C
CoyoteGirl
Well-known member
This past weekend ASAP's Executive Director and Instructor Michael Jackson took 5 of us under his wing to teach us the AIARE Level 1 avalanche class. Michael has been teaching these classes for many years to other back country peeps and is REACHING out to us sledders. He is in the process of developing a curriculum moreso focused on sledders, our thought processes and capabilities.
This weekends class involved several hours of classroom material for which Janicki Industries let us use their conference room in Sedro Woolley. BIG THANKS!
Then it was off to the hill. MJ is a backcountry enthusiast who is not yet a sledhead. Therefore Skagit Valley Polaris offered up (ok, I asked...) their 2010 Dragon 800 Demo to get MJ up on the hill and hopefully convert him into diehard sledhead. I think it worked, I saw lots of smiles, heard a few whoops and by the end of Sunday he was grilling us all on which sled to get! A HUGE THANKS TO DAN!
Mick from WSSA donated a few extra reading materials on avalanches. THANKS MICK and WSSA for your continued support to further avalanche awareness and safety!
We learned the proper way to conduct a compression test and it was very interesting to see our layers right now! Our tracks were barely leaving a mark in the snow it was so icy and hard. However that layer is only about 6" deep and there is a good 1' layer of mush under that! We dug many holes (tired muscles) and learned alot.
Throughout the 2 days on the snow we did many mock rescue scenarios, all multiple burials. Talk about getting your heart pumping! Our last scenario was 4 people buried and only 3 were wearing beacons. We found all 4 in around 7 minutes (I THINK) but it felt like an eternity. In all the scenarios it never felt like we were fast enough, personally, but the times said otherwise.
The class taught me alot. The biggest thing it taught me is that I can never know enough.... this is a constant learning process and the education needs to continue. And you can't practice enough.......
It also taught me that the Burlington/ Skagit Valley/ Sedro Woolley area is blessed to have business owners who are involved in their community and help with even little things like this class. Without the conference room and the use of the Dragon we would have been screwed.
One of my biggest draws to MJ's style of teaching is he is not telling us to stay off the hills. He doesn't preach to you. He wants to help us in our decision making process so that we can still play (PLAY EVERY DAY HE SAYS) in the appropriate terrain, have just as much fun and come home safely. I'd recommend to every single one of you that, at the very least, you take his (or any!!) Avalanche Awareness classes. It has opened up my eyes to many different possibilities and decision making processes that help in many areas of sledding safety, not just avalanche avoidance.
Thanks again Mike for sharing your knowledge and passion with us... and of course for your patience. Class act!
This weekends class involved several hours of classroom material for which Janicki Industries let us use their conference room in Sedro Woolley. BIG THANKS!
Then it was off to the hill. MJ is a backcountry enthusiast who is not yet a sledhead. Therefore Skagit Valley Polaris offered up (ok, I asked...) their 2010 Dragon 800 Demo to get MJ up on the hill and hopefully convert him into diehard sledhead. I think it worked, I saw lots of smiles, heard a few whoops and by the end of Sunday he was grilling us all on which sled to get! A HUGE THANKS TO DAN!
Mick from WSSA donated a few extra reading materials on avalanches. THANKS MICK and WSSA for your continued support to further avalanche awareness and safety!
We learned the proper way to conduct a compression test and it was very interesting to see our layers right now! Our tracks were barely leaving a mark in the snow it was so icy and hard. However that layer is only about 6" deep and there is a good 1' layer of mush under that! We dug many holes (tired muscles) and learned alot.
Throughout the 2 days on the snow we did many mock rescue scenarios, all multiple burials. Talk about getting your heart pumping! Our last scenario was 4 people buried and only 3 were wearing beacons. We found all 4 in around 7 minutes (I THINK) but it felt like an eternity. In all the scenarios it never felt like we were fast enough, personally, but the times said otherwise.
The class taught me alot. The biggest thing it taught me is that I can never know enough.... this is a constant learning process and the education needs to continue. And you can't practice enough.......
It also taught me that the Burlington/ Skagit Valley/ Sedro Woolley area is blessed to have business owners who are involved in their community and help with even little things like this class. Without the conference room and the use of the Dragon we would have been screwed.
One of my biggest draws to MJ's style of teaching is he is not telling us to stay off the hills. He doesn't preach to you. He wants to help us in our decision making process so that we can still play (PLAY EVERY DAY HE SAYS) in the appropriate terrain, have just as much fun and come home safely. I'd recommend to every single one of you that, at the very least, you take his (or any!!) Avalanche Awareness classes. It has opened up my eyes to many different possibilities and decision making processes that help in many areas of sledding safety, not just avalanche avoidance.
Thanks again Mike for sharing your knowledge and passion with us... and of course for your patience. Class act!
