Colorado Snow and Avalanche Workshop - Summary

This is the 5th CSAW I've attended. There were more people than ever before. It was a good one! We didn't stop talking even after the event ended. My brain really hurts after spending about 12 hours today learning and discussing all things avalanche research related. Here are quick summaries of each hour presentation:

Energy Balance at the Snow Surface. Kelly Elder, USDA-Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station

This was an extremely interesting presentation that tried to break down overall thermal energy input/output on the snowpack to its individual components and how each factor varied with time/location/wx/scale and how each played into the various effects that such energy balances have on snowpack metamorphism. It was really very nice because it took many concepts that we should all be aware of or familiar with and presented them all together in a manner that should really help people be able to better think about how the snowpack is going to change based on the past, present, and future conditions, whether it is the windy sunny afternoon in that bowl or the cloudy night below treeline. If I can find his paper, I'll link it here.

Avalanche Path Ecology. Sara Simonson, Colorado State University, Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory

The previous presentation was an excellent precursor to this presentation which covered how avalanches affect flora in their paths, how the observable flora effects can explain avalanche frequency/intensity, and how other environmental factor effects on the ecology of the mountain environment can change the behavior of the avalanches. Particularly emphasized was the fact that the massive beetle kills are trending toward the widening of paths, the development of new paths, and a general downward trend in stability.

Extended Column Test (ECT). Ron Simenhois, Copper Mountain Ski Patrol

If you haven't heard about the ECT already, look 'er up! It is a very cool test! Ron presented data, which is still not a huge pool, but seems to show that it is a most promising tool in the stability test toolkit. Search function here should yield a couple of good threads with links.

Chaos Theory & Avalanches. Greg Johnson, Canadian Avalanche Centre

This was really thought provoking... but at times it was hard to understand the application. One point he was really trying to make was that snowpacks are chaotic systems so entrenched and identical observation/test methodology will have better luck if variation is introduced... at least that is what I think he was trying to say... spatial variability and all that...

Multiple Burial Scenarios. Steve Christie, Backcountry Access

Steve covered some signal issues with multiple burials and statistics where semantic definitions came into play. Whereas in the past it was said in the past that ~40% of avalanche incidents were multiple burials, Steve clarified that really meant involved multiple people caught but in only ~5% were there complete burials of multiple tranceiver-wearing people (at least in the US if I heard that part right... I'll have to reread the research paper).

Wet Slabs: A Perspective from ABasin. Leif Eric Borgeson, Arapahoe Basin Ski Patrol

Interesting information on the measurement and observation systems that A-Basin is pioneering (such as stream flow data from the N Snake gauge, snow loss/day, and snowpack electrical conductivity) to make snow safety decisions with regard to wet slab danger on compacted inbounds terrain in the spring. Some of the techniques are new and there seemed to be some disagreement from the audience over how the results should be interpreted.

Boot Packing & The Alternatives. Peter Carvelli, Aspen Highlands Ski Patrol

Very interesting and informative presentation on the effectiveness of boot packing and SAE. The effectivness of the bootpacking at Aspen Highlands is amazing. Some of their activities are hard for other resorts to replicate b/c of cost issues that Aspen Ski Co obviously doesn't have a problem with, but Peter emphasized the high reliability of the methods for safety and the added bonuses of earlier opening of terrain and better base building.

The New Ortovox S-1. Marcus Peterson, Ortovox USA
Overview of the S-1... very neat beacon with some amazing features and functionality... (see more below)

Winter Weather Outlook. Mike Myers, NOAA - National Weather Service

Western CONUS details I remember:

PNW: Better chances are for a wet winter in the PNW.
MT/ID: Equal chances for precip
Everyewhere besides the North West: Chances are for hot as hell.
N CO: Chances are for normal precip in the first half of the winter followed by slightly drier spring in.
S CO: Chances are for precip suckage.


It could snow some, but then again, maybe it might not snow some. Standard long range wx fcst...

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Products:

BCA did not have their Tracker2 with them :-(

Barryvox Pulse seemed to be a very easy to use beacon, although it has no data sharing capability between searching beacons... apparently I was misinformed. It performed quite well in the one multiple search I did and it marked just fine. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to test it on multiple beacons except against two other Pulses (want to test it against multiple analogs). It has a decent analog mode. I know I like how this beacon works. However, I have heard many complaints about it getting very confused by multiple analog beacons and/or EM interference. That makes me a nervous about buying one.

Ortovox S1... I didn't get to play with it too much. Ortovox didn't really want to let anyone play with the beacon b/c they wanted to show you instead. I did manage to get my hands on it for a little while. It definitely works as advertised and is amazingly directional. I still don't like menus. I noticed a very significant DSP lag. It's analog mode sucks because it is audio only and the speaker sucks. We were in a very noisy RF environment which confused the hell out of the DSP. I like it's pinpoint mode. Mark mode against a single beacon didn't want to take. I did not have a chance to test in a multiple search scenario. I'd really have to use this beacon a lot more before I could really have a solid opinion. It sure is EXPENSIVE.

Ortovox Grizzly Shovel... pretty darn cool... unlike the other Ortovox shovel designs, this one is actually light as well as durable. I like the design a lot better than the Black Diamond Deploy series.

Ortovox PFA probes... as good as the BCA Quickie probes (which are the best on the market I think), although I think I like my BCA Quickie probes better.... maybe just personal preference...

Ortovox now has a 320cm CF probe... gosh it is so skinny I have to wonder about durability. It doesn't seem as beefy as my Black Diamond CF probe.

missed you

12 hours? You must have been at the A Train drinking beer....

got to walk through Frisco with Greg discussing his chaos theory talk - I should have bought him a beer or three

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Originally Posted by telemike

missed you

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damn! CSAWs are fun, no?

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12 hours? You must have been at the A Train drinking beer....

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A-train... then SAR meeting... then more talk after SAR... also I think I talked to Steve, Shawn Connoer, and Halsted all through lunch

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got to walk through Frisco with Greg discussing his chaos theory talk - I should have bought him a beer or three

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now that must have been a very intersting and headache a causing time! ;) learn anything else? care to share?

damn, long day. Wish I would've known about this and been able to come, sounds like you learned a lot. Id be interested to read/hear more about the electrical conductivity in wet compacted snowpacks because I was talking about this same idea with a friend last year. What equipment are they using and across what distance are they measuring current? No worries if you don't remember, just curious here.

packed crowd - outgrowing the Edge @ Copper - sounds like we need to find a new room, especially with interest from non " avy pros"

Didn't learn much new during my conversation with Greg. spatial variability...patterns...temporal variability....I dunno..........

ECT test looks great, as does Dave Gauthier's "prop" test that Ron described. Dave's and Ron's papers were both extremely well recieved at the AAA Pro Development Seminar last weekend. Stoked that Ron used one of my photos in his presentation.

Multiple burial stats presentation was great, as is the article in the recent TAR. Kudos to Steve and the boys at BCA for reviewing the stats they presented last year and telling us they were wrong. Bottom line message is that educators should focus on making sure students own beacons and know how to use them well in single-burial situations rather than focus on special situations such as multiple burials.

Maruc Peterson of Ortovox uses the same "old" stats BCA revisisted in their recent research. Unfortunately, his presentation came off like more of a sales pitch than anything else. S1 looks good, but I don't think I can afford one right now. I like the idea of the battery fail-safe revert to analog below 25% battery power. Below 25%, the screen and all the digi functions shut down, and it acts like an F1.

ECT sounds interesting.

The long-range forecasts also seem pretty spot on and similar to what I have been reading/predicting. Thankfully, we have elevation in CO so hot-as-hell for us still means snow.

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Originally Posted by telemike

Multiple burial stats presentation was great, as is the article in the recent TAR. Kudos to Steve and the boys at BCA for reviewing the stats they presented last year and telling us they were wrong. Bottom line message is that educators should focus on making sure students own beacons and know how to use them well in single-burial situations rather than focus on special situations such as multiple burials.

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BCA always publishes research to support why they designed their beacons the way they do.

It was a semantic issue and a very interesting one. I do have to agree with Halsted's points. Anyways, proficiency at multiple burial search guarantees proficiency at single burial searching. Nevertheless, the fact remains that the frequency of incidents where multiple people are caughti n the slide is high, even if the frequency of multiple beacon-wearing folks being completely buried is low. There is a lack of emphasis on how to handle those type of situations. We will see some work on it soon though.

The revised stats really affect only beacon design philosophy and beacon education philosophy.

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I like the idea of the battery fail-safe revert to analog below 25% battery power. Below 25%, the screen and all the digi functions shut down, and it acts like an F1.

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A really crappy F1...

Aaron,

Your comments regarding the ease of use on the S1 makes me think I may hold out until the Tracker 2 becomes available.

Well, the Tracker 2 remains to be seen.
Take my statements on the S1 with a grain of salt. I haven't' made up my mind about it because I didn't get a chance to really test it to my satisfaction.

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Originally Posted by Summit

Well, the Tracker 2 remains to be seen.
Take my statements on the S1 with a grain of salt. I haven't' made up my mind about it because I didn't get a chance to really test it to my satisfaction.

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But I think there is something to be said about ease of use. The bells and whistles don't do you any good if you don't know how to use them or are panicking in a rescue situation.

I am still intrigued by its digital capabilities and pinpoint screen.

Wow.

Thanks Summit, I just found and read the original paper on the ECT.
I like it, a lot. I'm going to start trying it out this winter.
Very interesting.

F.A.C.E.T.S. + Lemons (& increased attention to shear qual) + ECT = my newest favs in the bag o' tricks from the last couple years...


Thought: besides the obvious difficulty of isolating such a huge area, makes me wonder about the idea of an Extended Rutschblock!
I mean, why not? If you're already digging a big class pit with a group, and you're going to use "half" the pit for a Rutch after some other testing, why not clean up the "first" half of the pit wall, isolate the whole thing, say two or three Rutchb's/ski lengths across, and then proceed as usual by testing the 1 ski length at the side and watching propagation as well? Again if it breaks at the end of the skis that's one thing, but it propagates, that's another! Might have to try that too...

Summit-

Thanks a ton for the recap. I am actually really interested in the Aspen compaction stuff if you have more materials and/or could put up some more info.

Cletus-
Started doing ECT last winter, I think I showed my class as well. The one thing I remember from the pits I used it in last year (not that many) that surprised me is that if I were going on Rblocks/SSTs/SCTs I would have generally rated the danger higher than most of the ECTs indicated. It of course is measuring something different than the other tests to be sure.

And a 3 ski Rblock? Holy 3 hour experiment batman.

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Originally Posted by lemon boy

And a 3 ski Rblock? Holy 3 hour experiment batman.

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No way dood, it'd take 5 mins more than digging that group pit does anyway.
We have 5-6 people in there already, and to get a pit wide enough for everyone to get in there and have their own little learning space is already around 3 lengths wide. So, you do your first stuff, then you clean the front again (the extra 5 mins), isolate the RB with a cord, and you're good to go.

I'm not talking about doing it in the field with just the two of us, but if you have a group of 5 already that's in it for learning, they're already digging a big enough pit...