The Canadian Avalanche Centre is bringing together a panel of avalanche experts for a day-long backcountry workshop that will present the latest in practical information from avalanche researchers.
The day-long Nov. 10 session is designed for backcountry users with a range of avalanche experience who’d like to consolidate and update their general knowledge.
“We’re very excited to be holding an event of this size in our home town,” says Karl Klassen, acting Executive Director of the CAC. “Our lineup of speakers was chosen for both relevance and the quality of communication. They all have important messages and they’ll be delivering those messages in ways that are both entertaining and thought-provoking.”
The panellists are all leading experts in their special area of knowledge and research:
CMH guide Rob Whalen will help you sort through the problems that can arise when members of your party are carrying different transceivers. The signals can interfere with each other and create confusion in the critical moments following avalanches. Learn the issues and the solutions.
Grant Statham is a mountain risk expert with Parks Canada. He’ll be presenting on the new avalanche bulletin system that was adopted last season by the Canadian Avalanche Centre. Learn how to fine tune your understanding of the information presented in the new format.
Grant Helgeson and James Floyer will present on avalanche character. Learn subtle differences between the types of avalanches with the goal of improving your ability to manage risk in avalanche country.
If things go wrong you can always pull the airbbag rip cord right? Not really. Pascal Haegeli is a post-doc student at Simon Fraser University who’s studying behavioural decision making in the avalanche context. As part of his research he’s painstakingly compiled statistics on air bag deployments. Learn when they can work and when they don’t -- which can depend on where the avalanche catches you.
Uwe Gramman is a meteorologist who worked for Environment Canada for years and now works in the avalanche field. He’ll teach you how to better use online weather forecasting tools to plan your trips.
The event will be emceed by Revelstoke’s own Joe Lammers.
There’ll be hands-on demos, draw prizes and more.
Saturday, Nov. 10 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Revelstoke Performing Arts Centre. $20 at the door or $15 with food bank donation. Contact the Canadian Avalanche Centre at 250-837-2141 for more info.