I‘ll admit it. A lot of the time, I‘m not as prepared as I should be when I hike.
I mean, honestly I didn’t even pack bandaids for a majority of my hikes last year. Lesson learned the hard way when I cut my finger on Bierstadt last summer and it bled the. whole. way. up. I also tend to swell with steep elevation gain, so imagine grabbing rocks with a puffy, bleeding sausage where your finger usually resides during a fourteener. And yes, I’m hoping this visual makes you think about preparedness, too 😉.
So, no medical course YET because I want to take the NOLS course and it’s pricey (birthday presents and donations accepted 😂). But, I did see a few free two hour Avy courses pop up on Facebook and thought, why not? I know basically nothing about avalanches. And as someone who hikes in Colorado (the state with by FAR the most slides) and is starting to look into doing more backcountry stuff, this probably wouldn’t hurt to take.
Okay, so not only did it not hurt even a little bit, it was absolutely great and I strongly encourage anyone who hikes, skis, snowshoes, whatever in the mountains to at least take a free course, if nothing else.
I chose to take the course put on by Friends of Berthoud Pass (FOBP). This group is a nonprofit organization ran and supported by volunteer outdoor enthusiasts who want to promote safety in order to preserve Berthoud Pass’s recreational use. The instructor, Zach, was clearly super knowledgable and passionate about backcountry and avalanche safety.
The class was held at Ubergrippen climbing gym 👆🏻 in the evening which was great given, job. The room was packed and FOBP had free beer and stickers for those in attendance. I honestly learned SO much given the short timeframe of the class and was pleasantly surprised I got so much out of the two hours. I won’t dive too deeply (because that’s what taking the course is for 😉), but it went over the following:
-Avalanche stats
-Types of avalanches
-Components of a slab avalanche
-Slope angles
-Rescue gear
-Group dynamics
-Five Ws of trip planning
If you want to learn more about FOBP,
check out their website at berthoudpass.org They offer both two hour in-class sessions and an on-snow session (classroom session required to attend). They also made it a point to say this during the class and it’s on the website, so I think it’s important to mention here, if you want the real-deal-full-throttle avy course, there is NO substitution for taking the AIARE courses. For me, this was a great start to learning about avy safety and perfect for now, but I know as I begin to venture out off trail more, more in depth training will be necessary.
Stay safe out there and happy hiking everyone ✌🏼🏔❤️!
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