Level 1 Avalanche Class in the Sawtooths
This last weekend I went and took my Level 1 Avalanche Class with http://www.sawtoothguides.com/
The guides where Kirk Bachman and Erik Leidecker. We met at the Stanley Ranger Station at 8:00AM on Friday. The course was taught from a hut in at the base of Williams Peak. We watched a movie at the ranger station and had some discussion and then started our trek to the hut. Here is our objective. The middle peak is Williams.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...t/PC090008.jpg
On the hike up you could see Mt. Heyburn.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...t/PC090009.jpg
You could turn around and see Redfish Lake.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...t/PC090022.jpg
There was some great views of the Sawtooths on the way up the skin trail.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...t/PC090018.jpg
That night we did some beacon practices and had a couple hour class discussion on snow metamorphism, terrain, snowpack, and weather. I woke up the next morning and took this picture looking up at Thompson Peak (I think?)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...t/PC100043.jpg
Before we went out we did some weather observations. That day we split into two groups one group went to the skiers summit, and the other group went to the Marshall Lake Basin. I decided to go to Marshall Lake basin because, Wiunnbd said that if I had the chance to go over there. It did not disappoint. Here is a picture looking up at Williams Peak and Upper Marshall area.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...t/PC100053.jpg
Here is a couple shots that get skied later in the season. Pinner and KB are some of the names.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...t/PC100074.jpg
We dug a pit on the way to Upper Marshall and did a Compression Test and we got CT28 Q2T Shear at 40cm down. We got to Upper Marshall and had lunch and then got to ski down it was a little wind affect up top but got pretty good once we got down a little bit. We hiked out of Marshall basin and went to the Christmas area and dug another pit and made a couple laps.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...t/PC100089.jpg
That night we talked about our tours. Had a discussion on avalanche hazard and evaluation. The next day we did some more beacon searches and focused on multiple burials. We had a mock scenario with multiple burials. After that we had a debrief and review of topics and decended back to the Stanley Ranger Station. Overall excellant class with great people. Plus our chef (Sara) cooked up some great meals.
Couple more pictures of the terrain.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...t/PC110096.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...t/PC110114.jpg
