GET the GEAR: Ensure everyone has an avalanche transceiver, shovel, and probe on their person and knows how how to use them.
GET the TRAINING: Take an avalanche course.
GET the FORECAST: Make a travel plan based on the current avalanche and weather forecast.
GET the PICTURE: If you see recent avalanche activity, unstable snow exists. skiing or boarding on or underneath steep slopes is dangerous.
GET OUT OF HARM’S WAY: Don’t go to help your stuck friend. One at a time on all avalanche slopes. Don’t group up in runout zones.
Skiers and Snowboarders impact the snow different than a snowmachine. But they are still often the trigger that sets off the avalanche and catches the victim or someone in their party. Take the time to get educated so you will know the signs and can Live to Ride Another Day!
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- Beacon Search 101: https://youtu.be/nnHXLVA2FcE
- Avalanche Probing 101: https://youtu.be/-0_yDN5Drzw
- Avalanche Shoveling 101: https://youtu.be/dGQg9o3vAkM
- Organizing a Backcountry Rescue: https://youtu.be/gywtmukgt8s
- Post Avalanche Patient Care: https://youtu.be/9FyIeUy4wpQ
- Backcountry Evacuation: https://youtu.be/WPF-dciefL8
- Complex Multiple Burials Backup Techniques: https://youtu.be/pB6AfY2KyYo
- National Avalanche Center
- Avalanche Problems Explained: https://youtu.be/DkbnT_9-cHU
- Intro to North American Avalanche Danger Scale: https://youtu.be/r_-KpOu7tbA
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The following chapters introduce the basics of recreational avalanche safety. In this tutorial you will learn to understand avalanche danger and how terrain selection is one of the most important skills for safe travel in the backcountry.
- American Avalanche Association
The AAA created a tutorial which guides you through the recognition of red flags, identification of avalanche terrain, safe travel techniques and how to perform a rescue. - National Avalanche Center
This tutorial is broken up by user group – motorized and non-motorized. It discusses the kinds of avalanches you may see, terrain selection, snowpack, weather, low risk travel and rescue.
- Ortovox Safety Academy Lab
- Throttle Decisions: snowmobile avalanche education video series
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Backcountry Access basic avalanche awareness guide.
- White Risk Avalanche Prevention Portal
- New Zealand Avalanche Centre online tutorial
- Snow, Weather, and Avalanches: Observational Guidelines for Avalanche Programs in the United States
- COMET Avalanche Weather Forecasting
- COMET Forecast Guide
- COMET Avalanche Weather Forecast Data Sheet
- Field Forecasting
- Snow, Weather, and Avalanches: Observational Guidelines for Avalanche Programs in the United States
- When to Dig?
- Extended Column Test, Propagation Saw Test
- Propagation Saw Test
- Fracture Shear Character
- International Classification for Seasonal Snow on the Ground
- snowcrystals.com
- Snow, Weather, and Avalanches: Observational Guidelines for Avalanche Programs in the United States
- Destructive Size Chart
- Avalanche Size Estimation Aid
- Avalanche Accidents (CAIC)
- BCA Transceiver Searching 101
- BCA Stragic Shoveling
- BCA Probing 101
- Backcountry Access videos.
- Planning a backcountry trip: video.
- Teton Gravity Research videos. Click on ‘browse by series’ and select ‘Avi Education’.
- Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center videos.
- Jill Fredston of the Alaska Mountain Safety Center on avalanche risk and causes in Alaska.
Published Works:
- ISSW 2014 Proceedings
- ISSW 2012 Proceedings
- ISSW 2010 Proceedings
- Backcountry Access Research Papers and Reports (lots of great info here)
- AIARE Educational Resources
- Snow, Weather, and Avalanches: Observational Guidelines for Avalanche Programs in the United States
- Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain, by Bruce Tremper
- The Avalanche Handbook, by Dave McClung and Peter Schaerer
- Snow Sense: A Guide to Evaluating Snow Avalanche Hazard, by Jill Fredston
- The ABC’s of Avalanche Safety, by Sue Ferguson and Ed LaChapelle
- Secrets of the Snow: Visual Clues to Avalanche and Ski Conditions, by Ed LaChapelle
- Backcountry Avalanche Awareness, by Bruce Jamieson
- Free Riding in Avalanche Terrain, by Bruce Jamieson
- In the Path of an Avalanche: A True Story, by Vivien Bowers
More:
- AIARE Pre-trip Hazard Checklist
- Canada Terrain Scale
- Bay Street Case
- Torts 101 For Ski Guides