Here is an overview of the Avalanche Mitigation Blasting Seminar put on by the USACC this last fall, in conjunction with the American Avalanche Association (AAA), and the Association of Professional Patrollers (APP).Our thanks goes out to both of those organizations for their continued support in the realm of avalanche mitigation training.
Sorry, this had to be posted as two comments.
ReplyDeleteOctober is not usually the greatest month of weather in the Northwest. Daylight and temperatures start to wan with the slow decent into winter, caused by the slow motion of our axis as it tilts the northern hemisphere away from the sun. This natural lull provides us the perfect time of year to prepare the mind and body, letting excitement build as the snows approach.
Some of us begin with the body, working out and stretching in anticipation for the toll skiing inevitably takes on us all. Eventually the mental part must follow, and part of our preparation this year was a blasting seminar centering on avalanche mitigation; to bring to the fore the industry standards and safe practices to beginning users of explosives, as well as those that wished to continue their education in this field. This seminar was conceived at the United States Avalanche Control Council (USACC) meeting at White Pass last march, with the intent of providing “awareness” level training for beginning blasters in the mountainous environment. We aimed for the last weekend inn October in order to contain some of the momentum from the International Snow Science Workshop the week before. Out of that meeting, we put together an instructor group from ski areas along the Cascade crest, from Stevens Pass to Mt. Hood, comprised of Department of Transportation workers, Hazard Forecasters, and Snow Safety Leads in operational settings. The USACC was proud to be joined by the American Avalanche Association (AAA), and the Association of Professional Patrollers (APP) to help provide this educational experience.
The first morning started off with Bram Thrift, Forecaster for the Alpental Ski Area, leading us through Route Safety, what is required and the mind set needed to perform an avalanche mitigation route safely. Next, John Stimberis, Forecaster for Washington State Department of Transportation’s south central region (Snoqualmie and Chinook passes), and AAA’s Vice President took us out into the blazing glory that is the northwest in the fall (complete with sun shade), to cover Avalanche Mitigation Products. Complete with a WSDOT explosives transport, showed products and the applications used by the Snoqualmie DOT, including det cord, ANFO, emulsions and primers, lacing and arming of such products, and a non-electrical detonator demonstration. Brad Urban, trainer for Mt. Hood Meadows ski patrol, and head Avalanche Control judge for the APP, delved into the various delivery methods for avalanche mitigation. In his presentation he talked briefly of hand charges, then onto the usage and methodology of trams, propane/hydrogen and oxygen concussion devices, and the various types of delivery via artillery, many of which are in use at Mt. Hood today. Mike Stanford, Supervisor of the North Central Region for WSDOT, ended the day with a presentation on the difference between forecasting for the highway versus a ski area, namely that they try to remove all snow from the start zones. He covered the operational aspects of his program, from the plow drivers beacon check program, and the “Go to Green” highway markings, to the placement of their trams and the other delivery methods they use. The end of the night festivities started off with an awesome salad and salmon pasta feed, courtesy of the Alpental instructors and the Stanford family, thanks to all involved. Many beers were had, stories were told, and money changed hands throughout the night.
Day two started off with Aaron Opp, Assistant Forecaster for the Alpental Ski Area, leading the bright eyed and bushy tailed group through the sobering realities of avalanche rescue in an operational setting. The emphasis was laid on proper and thorough training, remembering to not become complacent when performing mitigation procedures, and considering the comments and points of view, and concerns of new mitigation workers, not relying on “its always been done this way” as an explanation for the procedures you are performing. Next on the docket was Blast Point Procedures by CJ Svela of the Ski Bowl Ski Patrol at Mt. Hood, also assistant judge of Avalanche Science for the APP. In his presentation he reviewed the NSAA guidelines concerning those procedures, introducing them to the less experienced practitioners in the room. This topic highlights not only the best practices and industry standards of our profession, but also reviews why we train to the standard we do, and the implications of the standards on the way we do our work. The next two topics were presented by folks from the Crystal Mt. Ski Patrol, Chris Morin and Chet Mowbrey, of the snow safety department. Chet talked on licensing and Documentation, the laws pertaining to the organizations that oversee a ski area’s explosives mitigation program, the need for thorough documentation and scrutiny of those documentation for legibility, proper math. He also covered the lessons learned from a recent BATFE audit of their explosives program, and the implications from it. Chris talked on Explosives Properties on Snow, reviewing how explosives effect snowpack, why we use certain products and methods of delivery, and why shot placement and understanding the snowpack we are trying to control are so important to proper mitigation procedures. We all thank these two, for taking what could be very boring subjects and making them entertaining and interactive. The final talk of the weekend was Misfires and Duds by Tighe Stoyanov, Snow Safety lead for the Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Patrol. The majority of the talk was devoted to the procedures we go through to prevent misfires and duds in the major delivery methods used, how we retrieve and document them.
ReplyDeleteSnoqualmie Pass was gracious enough to provide the venue, and without them as a host there is no way we would have been able to keep it as cheap as we did. For this we give our thanks. The thought behind this was to keep the costs down, thereby trying to draw as much of an “awareness” level group of attendees as possible. Despite this effort, it is safe to say that we missed our target audience. Most of the attendees were experienced mitigation practitioners, including several patrol managers and hazard forecasters. Whatever the feedback we receive, our first efforts at improvement will need to focus around catering more to our current audience, or considering changing the target with a more in depth criteria.
Chris Catlin