May 27, 2022: The Observed Need for Spring Climber Education
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By Jim Frankenfield, Avalanche-Center.org Director and Founder
Several recent situations have demonstrated the need for climbers as well as late-season skiers to have season specific education.
There are cases of people waiting for answers from somebody else, even on the mountain.
There are also cases of people making observations which would be more appropriate and significant in winter while overlooking spring factors. Some of these people appear to have taken a Level 1 course in winter where they learned to make these observations.
Level 1 courses, especially in the traditional format, have a crowded curriculum. They are based on winter conditions and the experience of most instructors is primarily or entirely in winter. Adding more instruction specific to spring is not really feasible due to these limitations.
Let's look at some recent examples. (These are not specific case studies and do not involve any kind of incident, fortunately. They are examples of people, mostly collectively rather than individually, not knowing what to look for or how to make seasonally appropriate decisions.)
By Jim Frankenfield, Avalanche-Center.org Director and Founder
Several recent situations have demonstrated the need for climbers as well as late-season skiers to have season specific education.
There are cases of people waiting for answers from somebody else, even on the mountain.
There are also cases of people making observations which would be more appropriate and significant in winter while overlooking spring factors. Some of these people appear to have taken a Level 1 course in winter where they learned to make these observations.
Level 1 courses, especially in the traditional format, have a crowded curriculum. They are based on winter conditions and the experience of most instructors is primarily or entirely in winter. Adding more instruction specific to spring is not really feasible due to these limitations.
Let's look at some recent examples. (These are not specific case studies and do not involve any kind of incident, fortunately. They are examples of people, mostly collectively rather than individually, not knowing what to look for or how to make seasonally appropriate decisions.)
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