Day 32 | A.S.T. complete!

I woke up this AM dreading going to the final day of my Avalanche course.  Yesterday's hike was torture for me and I couldn't get motivated to put myself through a second day of it.  I was happier when I read sun in the forecast and that all lifts were on stand-by.  If Harmony and Symphony were running, I knew that meant less hiking.

The day started off with some transceiver and rescue work by the reservoir in Harmony.  The temperature was -12°C but it didn't feel as cold because the sun was shining bright.  There was not a cloud in the sky all day.  After our rescue practice, we took Harmony Chair up and looked at the snow off Burnt Stew heading into Symphony where we eventually ended up at the bottom of Flute Bowl.

I knew the day was scheduled to end earlier because a guy in the class had to be at work for 2:30pm.  Around 11:30am we strapped on our hiking gear and started heading up Flute.  To my surprise, today's hike was super easy compared to what we hiked yesterday and it got me more excited about backcountry riding.  Not to mention, there was going to be fresh lines heading all the way down to Symphony Chair.  Sweet!

Once we reached our destination, we dug a huge pit and looked at the snow conditions.  We did some compression tests, a rutschblock, and a saw/shovel shear.  By 1:30pm we strapped on our boards and rode the fresh snow.  It was a bit crunchy in spots but overall it was nice.  Not great but not bad.  We ran all the way down to the village where we finished at The Cabin for a debriefing.  As much as I was dreading the day in the morning, it ended up being an awesome day.  Such is my life.