Are you a silent follower in the backcountry? Yearn to be a full partner instead?
Our Women’s Level 1 Course is for you!
At Wolf Creek Avalanche School we are committed to personalized attention and instruction in small classes.
Join us February 8-10th 2014 for Women’s Level 1. 60% Field time. Includes a relaxing hot springs soak
Where: at Wolf Creek Pass, Colorado and Pagosa Springs, Colorado
Who – Students: No previous avalanche knowledge necessary. Intermediate skier, snowboarders of reasonable fitness. Skins and bindings to travel in the backcountry can be rented in Pagosa.
Who – Instructors: Two women with decades of “toe-to-toe with avalanches” experience: Sandy Kobrock founder and owner of the Wolf Creek Avalanche School and Fay Johnson former Ski Patrol Director at Bridger Bowl, Montana.
Closest Commercial Airport: Durango-LaPlata
Closest Private Airport: Pagosa Springs, CO
Contact info: Sandy Kobrock, sandy@avalancheschool.us, 970-731-2486
Investment: $350 for 3 full days of instruction, mentoring, and fun! And Relaxing Hot Springs soak!
Link to our Wolf Creek Avalanche School website: www.avalancheschool.us
Women’s Level 1 & AIARE Level 2
Tips for the Backcountry:
1. Get the Knowledge
Learn a system of habits and knowledge to keep you safe as you gain experience in the backcountry. Terrain choice is how you manage avalanche danger. Learn to recognize what terrain is capable of producing an avalanche and which terrain is safe no matter how dangerous the avalanche conditions.
2. Go with the Right People
Someone who has taken a recognized avalanche course, who practices a similar process of decision-making, and who has a similar risk tolerance to yours.
3. Carry the right gear
Wear and carry an avalanche transceiver (beacon), probe, and shovel ~ that you have practiced with…a lot. You’d be amazed, there is actually a better (most effective) way to shovel out an avalanche victim – and it is not what you would do instinctively.
4. Make a Plan and Stick to it
We get in trouble when we either have a vague plan and sort of make it up as we move through the day, or have a plan but don’t follow it. Plan your trip: who, where, and how before you arrive at the trailhead. This is your most powerful tool to avoid “powder fever,” when the conditions are such that jumping into an avalanche path could get you or someone in your party killed.
5. See the Big Picture
Timing is key. Bruce Tremper, Director of the Utah Avalanche Center, likes to say that the snowpack is safe 95% of the time. Wait until the time is right, that “95% of the time”, when you can safely ski or ride it. It may take weeks, months, or years for that “right time” to appear. But it is worth it. Is riding it really worth dying for? Truly? I think you will say “It isn’t”.
