M
MVR
Well-known member
Hi all,
Currently there are several organizations that provide avalanche training to the snowmobile community in Washington and the surrounding region. MJ at ASAP out of Bellingham is in contact with these groups and is working with us to develop a recognized AIARE (American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education) curriculum. This will be a curriculum that can be used by AIARE instructors where ever they are...WY, CO, WA, MT, ID, OR, AK,...you get my drift.
What has been happening up until now (and will continue for the time being) is that a few of us AIARE instructors and course providers have modified the ski based lesson plan to fit sledding. It's not a big change...mainly changing slides in the power point and putting emphasis in different places during the course. Anyone who has taken a ski avy course from an AIARE instructor would fully recognize it. Our courses have been received with great enthusiasm and it seems like we always have a waiting list.
This brings me to my point...The finalizing of a curriculum is the easy part...some meetings, some testing, and adopting and we are done. The hard part is, and always has been, getting permits for the classes from local Forest Service Ranger Districts to allow a course to be held on FS land. If it were not for this issue, believe me, we would be providing as many classes as all of you could take. What we need is people at the grass roots level pushing for us, asking the ranger districts to work with us... In order to fully take the next step we need to build partnerships with the Forest Service in districts throughout the state. Hopes are high for getting some permitting going soon so that we can start to meet some of the growing statewide demand.
Thank you for your support.
Contact at: www.alpinesafety.org
Currently there are several organizations that provide avalanche training to the snowmobile community in Washington and the surrounding region. MJ at ASAP out of Bellingham is in contact with these groups and is working with us to develop a recognized AIARE (American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education) curriculum. This will be a curriculum that can be used by AIARE instructors where ever they are...WY, CO, WA, MT, ID, OR, AK,...you get my drift.
What has been happening up until now (and will continue for the time being) is that a few of us AIARE instructors and course providers have modified the ski based lesson plan to fit sledding. It's not a big change...mainly changing slides in the power point and putting emphasis in different places during the course. Anyone who has taken a ski avy course from an AIARE instructor would fully recognize it. Our courses have been received with great enthusiasm and it seems like we always have a waiting list.
This brings me to my point...The finalizing of a curriculum is the easy part...some meetings, some testing, and adopting and we are done. The hard part is, and always has been, getting permits for the classes from local Forest Service Ranger Districts to allow a course to be held on FS land. If it were not for this issue, believe me, we would be providing as many classes as all of you could take. What we need is people at the grass roots level pushing for us, asking the ranger districts to work with us... In order to fully take the next step we need to build partnerships with the Forest Service in districts throughout the state. Hopes are high for getting some permitting going soon so that we can start to meet some of the growing statewide demand.
Thank you for your support.
Contact at: www.alpinesafety.org
