Last Sunday concluded our 8th AIARE Avalanche Course of the season. Back to back snowstorms brought almost 2 feet to Hermit Lake, which set the field for another excellent avalanche course as 7 participants acquired some new skills to help them travel more safely in the backcountry.
Only 4 more courses left this season, and the next one is booked solid. Go to http://www.emsclimb.com/aiare1.html to see course details or call 800-310-4504 to book.
A bunch of EMS Basecampers came up last week for a winter version of the “Climbapalooza” we did last summer. One day of ice climbing and an ascent of Mount Washington makes up this “Swing & Summit” adventure. I put together a quick recap of the two days using iMovie. Enjoy!
10+ inches of snow graced us for our 7th Avalanche Course this season. Hermit Lake picked up 13 inches and the conditions were ripe for an avalanche course. Seven aspirant backcountry travelers joined us for a few days of snow study and risk management discussion.
Other than seeing the obvious recent avalanche activity in the bowl and the cornicing near Hillmans we got some pretty positive results on the Little Headwall while conducting some snowpack tests. CTV Q1 on a 15cm soft wind slab followed by consistent CTM Q2’s 55cm down on a crust. We got a Rutschblock score of RB4 MB on the 55cm layer. This all matched up pretty well to the info we had gathered from the bulletin and the current weather observations we were making.
The turns down the Sherbi were the best of the season so far. Great powder skiing and fun fun fun! Still a couple course left this season. If you’ve been thinking about it, well, now is a great time to sign up!
An EMS Climbing Guide, an Alaskan Heli-Ski Guide, an outdoor educator from PA, two other backcountry travelers joined us for the first and only Level 2 Avalanche Course of the season.
The level 2 course is a 4-day program that provides backcountry leaders the opportunity to advance their avalanche knowledge and decision making skills. This course also includes the introductory and prerequisite components for the professional progression: the level 3 certificate.
We started the course at the AMC Highland Center in Crawford Notch. After reviewing the knowledge from the Level 1 Course we spent the afternoon upgrading our companion rescue skills to handle multiple and deep burials with a close look at rescue leadership.
The next day after some morning classroom which looked closely at the process of snow formation and metamorphism we jumped on the summit Quad lift at Wildcat and explored the snow pack right off the 4,400 feet summit with a detailed snow profile.
6 more avalanche courses scheduled as long as the snow holds! http://www.emsclimb.com/aiare1.html
A couple hours ago we concluded another Level 1 Avalanche Course. You’d think there wouldn’t be much difference between one course and the next, but you’d be very wrong. Each weekend this winter has presented different and interesting weather and snowpack characteristics to consider when traveling in the backcountry. 2 days before the course while on a personal ice climbing day I came across a few cool snowpack related conditions. The first, was this “surface hoar” which was on the eastern side of Mt. Willard:
Then as we rounded the corner to a more southerly exposure we came across some “pinwheels”, indicators of strong solar radiation effecting the slope, often a warning sign of wet loose snow avalanches:
After a couple days conditions in the area changed dramatically. Arctic air rushed in for the COLDEST day of the season, which happened to be our field day.
We still managed a pretty good field day getting up to Hillman’s Highway, checking out some fresh debris at the bend in the gully, the rockslide from Irene, and some layers down below in the sheltered lee area of the runout.
That was it for pictures. With the mercury at about -9 Farenheit and a -30 windchill we didn’t spend too much time in any one place. We did see some cool layers in a 1.5 meter pit just below this last photo. And the fresh debris, slightly visible in the above photo was a nice bonus. All in all it was a good field day given the weather stress, and I’m hoping to see the four of you out in the mountains again. Now to get ready for the Level 2 Course starting on Friday!
I got two days of climbing in this week with my good friend (and former client) John Deangelis. We spent both Monday and Wednesday on one of my favorite ice climbing destinations in New Hampshire. Wednesday we decided to break out a few GoPro Helmet cams and had some fun:
Another weekend, another avalanche course, but not the same conditions as the last course! Shallow snowpacks and prolonged cold led to some “Continental” type conditions during our Observational Outing on Day 2, and a blue bird day on our Ski Tour on Day 3 yielded a deep faceting snowpack with a lot of fellow backcountry travelers to watch and learn from.
We conducted a quick Hand Shear test before crossing under the Chute:
Great conditions right now to take an avalanche course, so check out this link for details:
Winter has definitely arrived and the 4th avalanche course of the season concluded with a very interesting day in the Ravine. Light density snow from the higher summits has accumulated into pencil hard wind slab with varying thickness, all sitting on top of a thick melt-freeze crust from last week’s thaw.
At the end of the day we got some nice turns in some fresh powder before taking the Sherburne trail back to Pinkham. Couple spots left for next weeks course! http://www.emsclimb.com/aiare1.html
Last year Martin attempted Mount Washington with me, and we were turned back at Lion’s Head due to some very harsh weather. This year Martin returned, all the way from Denmark, to make another attempt. I had two days to climb with him so we started at Frankenstein for some ice climbing, and attacked Washington yesterday. We moved quickly and made the summit by 11:50am, my earliest guided summit yet! Visibility was pretty poor but careful use of route flags and solid map & compass skills kept us on track.
Thanks for a fun two days Martin, hope to see you back again next winter for a new adventure!
This past weekend was the first (and only) weekend of the winter that I was not scheduled to teach an avalanche course. Instead I had the great pleasure of taking father/son team Stephen and Randy out for their first few days of ice climbing and mountaineering. These two have already had a hoist of adventures from volunteering in Nepal to vacations in Thailand, I was glad to be part of their ongoing adventures. So glad I decided to break out the iMovie skillz for a 3 minute recap of their 3 days. Enjoy!
