Zahan and the U12s during their avalanche awareness programs.
In the month of January the Alpine U12s, U14s and U16s and Nordic athletes all had avalanche awareness programs as part of their training.
Alpine U12s
Exum Guide and AAI instructor Zahan and U16 coach Lindsay led the U12 avalanche awareness program this month. The athletes cycled inside in groups of 10 during their Tuesday night training for a half hour backcountry/avalanche awareness program. We started with a slide show, showing pictures of backcountry skiing leading to a discussion on how backcountry skiing is different than in bounds skiing. The athletes were engaged and asked some great questions! Following the slide show, we split into two groups to find beacons that were hidden in the Snow King lodge. Athletes took turns using beacons and seeing how they work. Thank you to Zahan and to all of the U12 athletes and coaches!
Alpine U14s & U16s
Both the Alpine U14s and U16s spent half a day in January with AAI instructors learning about rescue fundamentals and avalanche terrain. The U14s focused on what is avalanche terrain, measured slope angle, and talked about the gear that you carry in the backcountry.
The U16s spent the majority of their session practicing companion rescue and talking about what is in your backcountry pack. It was a great day of practice for all athletes!
Nordic
The Nordic team also did their avalanche training this month with AAI instructors. This program was held at trail creek where athletes spent the day talking about backcountry rescue and rescue gear that they can carry with them, as well as, identifying avalanche terrain. Throughout the day they built rescue sleds using actual rescue sleds and then also built some using just their nordic skis and equipment that they would have with them. During the day they also talked about and practiced how to build fires in the backcountry and how that can be an important skill to have if something were to happen on a long nordic ski/ trail run.
