Avalanche Training 2

For this second avalanche training course we needed some snow so we drove up beyond Hope Valley and found a small spot not too far from the car.

Nate showed us how to dig a trench and begin analyzing the snow to check for its avalanche potential. A bit like this. I think this one is a kind of compression test (I struggled with rotating the video so please tilt your head to see it!).



Most tests involved sawing out a chunk of snow and then manipulating it like by putting it on a shovel and tapping the bottom of it to see whether and how it broke apart. In each test, a 2 inch thick layer broke off quite easily. This snow would have some avalanche potential.

It was a little cold for goofing around but we managed to do a bit anyway!