Day 31 | Avalanche Skills Training Course

I signed up for an Avalanche Skills Training Course.  It's a two and half day course designed to increase knowledge of winter backcountry travel.  I don't plan on doing much backcountry riding but I do plan on going snowmobiling in the backcountry so it's a good idea to be prepared.  A raise in my pay scale is an added benefit as well.

We started the day in Harmony working with transceivers..... searching for people and/or hidden transceivers.  We stopped at a weather station and learned how they predict the weather and gather information about recent snowpack and snowfall.  From Harmony Chair, we hiked up to the cat track and made our way into Symphony.  At the bottom of the Symphony Chair, we dug some holes and learned about the different snow layers and how to gauge the snowpack activity with compression tests.  From there we snowshoed up to Lil Flute.  That was the worst part of the day.  It took me over an hour and half to hike up and I hated every minute of it.

Once we determined the avalanche situation was at a safe level, we ripped some fresh tracks down Flute and landed ourselves in Adagio.  From there we had to hike back to Burnt Stew Trail and started making our way back down to the village.  It was a long day but I learned a lot.  I'm hoping the hike tomorrow isn't as grueling because I can't feel my legs as I'm typing this.