December avalanche training

I recently got a chance to participate in some really good avalanche training, both experiences were compliments of the AMRG. The first training was a weeks worth that was mostly snow assessment, route consideration and terrain management with a little bit of formal rescue added for good measure. This was a 40 hour class so it was tedious but very good. The next training was an interagencey avalanche training in which we got to work with the Alaska State troopers,Chugache National Forrest, State Parks, Alaska Search and Rescue Dogs, and The Nordic Ski Patrol. This was a 15 hour event that involved an elaborate mock avalanche on a massive scale. The idea was to create overwhelming chaos and see if multiple agencies could work together to get the job done. responding to this "emergency" involved a 30 min Snow machine ride to the base of the accident scene then a 300ft climb. With 15 subjects there was quite a bit of chaos. There was single digit temp that day (around 5 degrees) so staying warm was a challenge. Anyway, here are some pics.



hatcher pass



Snow evaluation pit





stairway to heaven



checking out a small slab

INTERAGENCY;



State of Alaska Incident Command Center



the scene





Sate Troopers comming in over the probe line



Helo 1, inbound




well that should do it..