Interest in Northeast Avy Course Idea for 2010-11 Season?
Just trying to gauge potential interest in a new format for an avy course I might be teaching for the 2010-11 season. I'm hoping to get it listed as a Level 1 NSP course, although like all NSP avy courses, it would still be open to the public. (Plus the only thing that distinguishes NSP avy courses from AIARE and other courses aimed exclusively at recreationalists is that we spend some time on formal group rescue in additional to companion rescue.) If it's not an NSP course, then students will not receive any sort of "official" certificate, although either way, the lead instructors are both NSP & AIARE instructors, and each student will receive a detailed report card.
So what's new about the format?
First, each student has to do some pre-course reading, take two on-line courses (mtn wx and FEMA ICS), and complete a pre-course review quiz.
Second, we hold a [very] full day Fall Session (about 10 hours, probably at Western Mass's Northfield Mtn, which is a very convenient location coming from lots of direction), which will be a mix of classroom discussion and group exercises (not endless powerpoint lectures), outdoor beacon & probing practice, then conclude with a gear inspection (both pack and winter backcountry travel gear) and hour-long fitness-assessment hike (although just with the pack -- we won't make you tromp around amidst the fall foliage with your winter backcountry travel gear).
Third, some additional homework is assigned in advance of the Winter Field Sessions (which will take place probably during an early March weekend, probably based out of Pinkham Notch).
Fourth, the Winter Field Sessions will be just that, all field sessions, with lots of discussion each morning, but focused on what we're going to do each day. Throughout each day we'll have lots of discussion and practice exercises (especially rescue), but in the field, focused on where we are and what we're really doing, as opposed to sitting in the classroom. (We'll also have a Saturday evening session to go over the homework assignment.) We'll have a max of 8 students for this weekend, with the two lead instructors, and possible one or two assistant instructors.
Fifth, everyone needs to have touring gear, although avy rescue gear will be available to borrow, demo, and/or buy. I'm hoping that exclusively slowshoers and the like will allow us to cover more terrain and thereby keep open more options for some interesting tours.
If your interest is at all piqued by this, then send an email to "AvyCourse" at a google mail account and I'll reply with an eight-page pdf file along with an Excel file for the detailed schedule.
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EDIT:
For all of you who thought my emailed pdf file was pretty old fashioned, the combination of the return to winter up north with the lousy weather locally motivated me to put up a quickie website:
http://avycourse.blogspot.com/
Still no dates, and the comment notification and sign-up feature still has me a bit baffled, but everything else seems to be okay so far.
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(And if you're a westerner reading this and thinking, "hey, that's what all our avy courses are like out here," well, great, I'm glad to hear that.)
Oh, and don't worry, just b/c I'm thinking about next season already does mean I'm implying that this season is over -- although these summer temps sure are discouraging!
