Division Avalanche Advisor s Manual

Transcription

1 Division Avalanche Advisor s Manual Introduction: This document was created to give the next Avalanche Supervisor some basic concept of the structure and workings of the avalanche program. The basic outline employed here can be used by any other divisional supervisors to generate a guide for their respective replacement. The expectation of the avalanche supervisor is defined in the Divisional Policies and Procedures Manual that is available on the divisional website (nspcentral.org). The actual job descriptions and course curricula are located in the Avalanche Instructor s Manual (AIM). The AIM is created by the National Avalanche Supervisor and all of the divisional avalanche supervisors acting as an advisory committee. The AIM is continuously being updated due to the fact that new information is always being integrated. The current National Avalanche Supervisor is Mike Laney. He has done an exemplary job upgrading and revising the AIM to keep it abreast of new research and maintaining a reciprocity with the American Institute of Avalanche Research and Education (A.I.A.R.E.). The American Avalanche Association (AAA) and the Proceedings of the International Snow Science Workshop (ISSW) are both information and educational drivers of the NSP avalanche program. The AAA has a membership of the most sophisticated avalanche personnel available and the ISSW represents the pool of research knowledge in snow science. This generates a situation where the knowledge meets the end user producing innovation and new procedures. I have in the past encouraged everyone in the avalanche circles to become members of AAA and attend ISSW s.

2 I have also found attendance in the National Avalanche School to be very educational. Mission Statement I believe, it is important for the Avalanche Advisor to meet with the Division Director and Divisional Assistant Directors to discuss the types of avalanche education available and to design a delivery system that meets divisional needs. Unfortunately, the AIM is divided into education suitable for those that work and recreate in avalanche terrain and those that don t. What this relates to is a high level of training for those that work in the big mountains and a low level of training for those that don t. That s to bad since the avalanche doesn t discriminate based on where you come from or what kind of training you ve had. Detailed course descriptions and the target audiences for these courses are described in detail in the AIM. I tried to keep the program versatile by providing a Level 1 classroom education and completing the course as an Avalanche for Rescue Personnel (APR). We provided the snow science portion and Rescue Training at Mt. Bohemia on the last weekend of January. The other option was to complete the L1RP course by doing the snow science integrated into the Level 2 course. The student would achieve both Level 1 and Level 2 completion in the same season. The reasons I chose this method is because the Level 1 classroom session is almost the same as ASR classroom and the Central Division is so large to cover with so few instructors. We don t have the luxury to be redundant on our course offerings.

3 Program Delivery in the Central Division I can t emphasize enough the importance of having active and engaged Regional Avalanche Advisors. If they don t do the job it is your job to inform the Regional Director. The Regional Avalanche Advisor should keep you appraised of all courses and should send you copies of all course completion records. You should both retain these records. It is the job of the Divisional Avalanche Advisor to set policies for how you plan on doing record keeping and making sure that all the courses get the promotion they deserve. You can pick up the slack if you have a weak avalanche advisor by providing that region with information of a Divisionally supported course nearby. We traditionally provided avalanche courses at some of the early season Divisional S & T training venues ie: Trollhaugen Boyne Highlands Cascade Program Promotion and Communication It s always best to get on the calendar often and early. Our seasons in the Midwest are short and packed. It is most certain that any course you plan will have competition. I recommend that the classroom sessions should start in the early fall season and plan on getting them out of the way early. The best Divisional advertising is in the Rusty Parka News (RPN). The other calendars to get on are on the Divisional and Regional websites. The Divisional website has space for the Avalanche Program.

4 I often attended the ISSW s and made it a point to share my learning experiences with my instructors, regional advisors and all former students. I try to keep everyone in the loop by publishing The Avalanche News. Also any information I get from the American Avalanche Association (I am a member) I pass along. The publication of the AAA is the Avalanche Review. You can become a subscriber by communicating with them at americanavalancheassociation.org. or writing: The Avalanche Review P.O. Box 2831 Pagosa Springs, CO Division Budgets and Program Financing The budget for the next ski season is submitted at the beginning of March to the Division Treasurer. The final budget will be submitted to the Board of Directors on the first weekend of April. Listed below are some considerations for calculation: Will a Level 2 avalanche course be offered this year? Calculation of the cost depends of the L2 location. Severe cost reductions can be found if someone belongs to a vacation club and reservations are made far enough in advance. Try to operate around ski areas that provide your needs yet are not considered Prime Locations. Chose your L2 location based on the ability to gain access to ski areas with little or no cost to the student. I ve been able to do this for free in the last two trips. How many courses will you attend and by what transportation means. Car transportation is reimbursed at $0.32 per mile or rental car. If you submit mileage use MapQuest for this calculation.

5 If you file for reimbursements after 90 days from the time they are incurred a 50% reduction may occur due to Divisional P&P. Airfare is at the lowest fee available (changes by the nanosecond)---check Chapter 5 of the P&P on the division website. Lodging for meetings is at 50% of the rate. Use AARP or any other discount available. Try to pair up if you are taking instructors with you. Account Number and Descriptions: Account 163 Avalanche Income: When you decide on your Level 2 location calculate the amount each student should pay for the trip. Two years ago the cost was around $850 for students and $800 for instructors. This is mostly based on condo fees and costs divided by the number of students you expect. I have considered about 8 students to be normal. As you can see this is a big guess. Your aiming point is for a net zero. In the past I ve been close. Like contracting add a 10% fudge factor for unknown contingencies. Account 442 Avalanche Equipment and Supplies: Each year I consider my equipment needs. Transceivers need to be upgraded so staying on a renewal program is good. I like to keep about 10 top notch transceivers in the program with at least 3 junk units to bury. At least one probe gets broken or lost per season and stuff out of the snow science kits get lost in snow pits. I like to keep at least 6 probes and 3 snow science kits in good working order. Most of the Level 2 Instructors carry their own snow science stuff. I have two divisional shovels but I think each student should provide that themselves. The Ortovox shovels are outstanding and they are available in our catalog. I and most of the students will use their avalanche shovel more frequently to dig out the car. Since the airlines charge extra for baggage we have sent

6 our equipment ahead by UPS and returned it the same way. Usually the condo office can accommodate you. Account 652 Avalanche Level 2 Course: This is the account that will pay for the condominium or house that you will rent for the course and any other course related expenses. Account 750 Avalanche Supervisor Expenses: You need to consider the meetings you will attend and the travel you will incur. I think this account should be expanded to include travel and expenses for continuing education of some of our instructing staff. It is imperative that our instructors engage in the ISSW s, National Avalanche Schools and any divisional workshops to keep their knowledge and skills top notch. General Expense Information: The MS Excel Divisional Expense Voucher form is on the divisional website: nspcentral.org/index.php under members/bookshelf. Use Adobe to scan expenses or mail them to the Divisional Treasurer. Copy the expense voucher with receipts to staff (your specific ADD) and copy the Division Treasurer. Instructor Maintenance In accordance with the AIM all instructors have 3 years in each status to engage in teaching. You have 3 years from your last activity to again teach another course. If you fail to meet that criteria then you must take a refresher or drop a status ie: if you are a Level 2 instructor and do not teach or take a refresher within a 3 year period you will be downgraded to a Level 1 instructor. You can regain your status by discussing the event with the division advisor and then taking the appropriate courses or teaching a Level

7 2 course. This is all in accordance with the AIM and with the discretion of the division avalanche advisor. Currently in the Central Division we have the following instructor breakdown: 21 total Avalanche Instructors 9 Level 2 Avalanche Instructors 7 Avalanche Instructor Trainers It is the responsibility of the Divisional Avalanche Supervisor to review the instructor staff and evaluate instructor activity and to yearly reassign the IT status. The request form will be transmitted to you in August to be resubmitted to National by November 1 st. I used to credit currency to an instructor that took the National Avalanche School, attended an ISSW or attended a Divisional clinic such as The Colorado Snow and Avalanche Workshop. These workshops are usually scheduled in the fall season and it wouldn t be a bad idea to schedule one of these with our fall Divisional Meeting. Website Enhancement After you are appointed the new Divisional Avalanche Supervisor your website with National will be enhanced to include the following: Full access to the entire membership of the Central Division Avalanche Supervisory Reports for all courses and their status Avalanche Instructor Roster Avalanche Supervisor Roster listing all the other Divisional Avalanche Supervisors

8 The National website is much improved and should show all of your courses. Each time a course is registered in your division you will get a course number sent to you. Keep track of these in case the website is not maintained so that you can make sure the courses close. Avalanche Reports You will be required to submit 3 reports. The fall report will consist of the following: Budget request (see above) Objectives and Goals Implementation Instructor and Region Avalanche Advisor status Summary/New Ideas The spring report reflects the actual performance of the program in comparison to your plans and expectations. The spring report contains the following: Overall Assessment Number and type of courses taught Number of students in each course type Number of participating instructors Areas of improvement Summary and new ideas The third report is to the National Avalanche Supervisor, currently Mike Laney, detailing the information in the spring report applied to his matrix. He will send you his completed report for comment prior to submitting it the National Board.

9 Avalanche Courses per the current AIM Listed below are the courses that are available as described in detail in the AIM. Avalanche Awareness (now on-line) Avalanche Safety and Rescue Standard Level 1 Level 1 for Rescue Personnel Upgrade (to upgrade Level 1) Level 1 for Rescue Personnel Cycle 1, 2 and 3 Refreshers Level 2 for Rescue Personnel Instructor Level 1 Continuing Education Instructor Level 2 Continuing Education We have few instructors in the Central Division and as such we must make the teaching environment as productive as possible. To make the time most productive our instructors have been teaching to the Level 1 classroom standards so that the course is upgradable and is a prerequisite for the Level 2 course. The Avalanche Safety and Rescue course is a Senior elective but is not a prerequisite course for Level 2 Avalanche. The student then has three choices. The student can do nothing more and gets a completion certificate for Avalanche Safety and Rescue. The student can go to Mt. Bohemia and get the course upgrade and snow science to achieve the Level 1 for Rescue Personnel course. The student can go to the 8 day Level 2 for Rescue Personnel and complete the remaining components of the Level 1RP and receive graduation certificates for both the Level 1 and Level 2 for Rescue Personnel. Level 2 Course Management In order to make the course financially feasible it is best to offer the course every other year. This year is the off year and if anyone feels the need to accomplish this in an odd year the Eastern

10 Division is offering the course at Whiteface Mt. in the Adirondack Mountains. By staggering our course offerings it is always available without too much inconvenience. Other things to consider when administering this course are as follows: Make the Condominium or House accommodations early in order to procure the best price. Do not be afraid to negotiate. You will be skiing in avalanche terrain so be sure to ascertain whether your students are competent to perform the tasks. If long traverses are required you must make sure that any snowboarders in your group have a split board or are ski competent. Make sure you have copies of everyone s medical insurance certificates. Make sure the students have filled out an emergency notification form. Make sure you have release forms and evaluation forms. The book of choice is Bruce Tremper s book called Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain 2 nd edition. Make sure they have received the open book exam to be graded on day one. Avalanche Course Markets Our first obligation of course, is to the National Ski Patrol System. The biggest concern we all have as avalanche specialists is that people ski into avalanche situations with far more skiing ability than knowledge. Our compatriots in the ski industry such as PSIA are always in need of this information and have frequently been students in our courses. Every effort should be made to include them.

11 We often take advantage of offers to teach ski clubs and lately in ski shops. The side-country and backcountry segments of the industry are the fastest growing components and ski shops are looking for avalanche expertise to help these fledgling skiers. Equipment Management At this time I have all of the divisional equipment. For all of our course work there are only 4 pieces of equipment that you need be concerned about and they are: Transceiver Probe Shovel Snow Science Kits (total 3) We have 12 top of the line digital transceivers of which 6 are triple antennae units. We have 6 probes and we should purchase at least 4 more. I don t require people to invest in transceivers or probes since they may never use them again. I do however; require students to purchase a good shovel. The equipment cache should be controlled by one person so that no one loses track of any equipment. If equipment purchases are being made make sure you get the professional rate and procure the tax free data from the Division Treasurer. Lending equipment is permissible providing the borrower returns the equipment in good working order and a release is signed releasing the National Ski Patrol from any liabilities. Any cost born by shipping and insuring any materials should be paid by the borrower.

12 When storing the equipment be sure it is in a temperature controlled environment to prevent corrosion. Remove the batteries from the transceivers to prevent terminal corrosion internally. Summary and Ideas Most of the questions you may have can be found in the Avalanche Instructors Manual. This manual is an amazing resource. I am personally not sure about my future but do not hesitate to contact me concerning questions about this program. During the last Level 2 avalanche courses, Powder Mountain was very accommodating. Powder Mountain was recently bought by the Summit Group that specializes in training and conventions. They specialize in entrepreneurialism. They are attempting to put the people in place to produce a teaching/guiding staff or a think tank of sorts. The avalanche program fits nicely into that format and they have shown interest in making Powder Mountain an avalanche training area. Already the Utah Avalanche Center is on board. I think it would be prudent to develop that process by having Level 1 courses and Level 2 courses available here for the Eastern, Central and Southern Divisions. Butch Mason is the Snow Safety Manager and he is from the Central Division. This is something to keep in mind. If you want to read more about this see the article written in Forbes January 21, 2013 entitled Entrepreneur Camp. Dale R. Mihuta Cell dmihuta@fuse.net

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