Eastern Snow and Avalanche Workshop Update- Sign up soon because
November 9th is coming quickly!
If you haven't signed up yet please do soon today. It will help logistics volunteers greatly in relation to coffee, food, adult hops and barley, etc.
Only a little more than 3 weeks and ESAW 2013 will be here. We're once
again excited to say we've got a great day in store. Our list of talks will
be up on the ESAW website in a few days as some talk titles are still being
tweaked by presenters. We have a great list of topics from our local
mountains to regional hills to western professional perspectives. We are
sticking with our goals to offer local issues from the White Mountains,
regional avalanche concerns, a mix of snow science, weather topics relating
to avalanches, and of course human factors that we all need to better
understand. To keep our avalanche talks vibrant we will continue to bring
in speakers from the west or overseas.
Speakers: This year we are honored to have Doug Richmond from Bridger Bowl
Montana. For over 20 years I have been an enormous advocate of the "RIchmond
Rules". Basically- one at a time-don't travel over or under partners
without clear permission, and always be thing thinking what you will do when
it all hits the fan. I paraphrased a bit here, but I believe that they have
kept me safe all these years on Mount Washington and have been the
foundation of my travel ethics in avalanche terrain. Doug will present
"Human Behavior at the Ski Area Boundary" as well as an overview of
Bridger's Avalanche Program. I am looking forward to both of them. In
addition,
* The Gaspe Avalanche Center will be with us again
* Chief Ranger Ben Woodard and Bob Baribeau from Mahoosuc Rescue will talk about Baxter State Park's
Avalanche issues on Mt. Katahdin,
* A talk by one of the worlds premier snow physicists Sam Colebeck on wet snow,
* Meteorologist Rebecca Scholand will discuss field weather observations in dynamic conditions in relation
to avalanches
* Tim Brown from AIARE will help us better understand avalanche problems and the value of
quality communication.
* Roger Damon will give us an update on eastern man made snow avalanches at ski areas
* A round table discussion by renown international climbers in how they avoid avalanches in the big mountain
* We are also trying to lock in another well know avalanche brain from Colorado via Sweden-
consider it a welcome surprise if it all comes together.
* And much more.
Young snow hounds. What really got Kyle and me motivated to get ESAW going a
few years ago was to create a new avalanche venue at a high level in the
Northeast as well as thinking about the next generation of kids and young
adults. These students will not only be heading into our New England
mountains in future winters, but will be carrying the avalanche torch when
we're gone. They are the next patrollers, climber and skier professionals,
meteorologists, and avalanche forecasters. We will have more young snow
enthusiasts this year than ever before at ESAW. The White Mountain
Avalanche Education Fund is sponsoring a number of students from different
schools in New England including 6 students from a Massachusetts Pioneer
Robotics team focused on a project involving avalanche safety. Truly our
next avalanche experts and engineers starting early!
Our number of sponsors and vendors wanting to be part of ESAW has been
growing weekly. It's likely most of the participants will go home with
something this year as we have a large give-away/raffle pile of gear.
Vendors with Booths
* American Avalanche Association, American Alpine Club, AIARE, ARVA,
AvaTech, BCA, Barryvox/Mammut, Black Diamond, Hagan Ski, LaSportiva,
Mountain Hardware, Pieps, Ortovox, Petzl
Sponsors
* American Avalanche Association-The Avalanche Review, American Alpine
Club, AIARE, Atomic, ARVA, AvaTech, Backcountry Access, Backcountry
Magazine, Barryvox/Mammut, Black Diamond Equipment, Brooks-Range
Mountaineering Equipment Company, CAMP, Cascade Designs / MSR, Cloudveil,
CSAC, DPS, Genuine Guide Gear / G3, GU Sports, Hagan Ski USA, High Gear,
Ibex, K2, LaSportiva, Leki, Marker/Volkl, Marmot, Scarpa, Merrell, Mountain
Hardwear, Pieps, Off-Piste Mag, Outdoor Research, Ortovox, Petzl & Adventure
Medical Kits, Plum, Rab, RECCO, Salewa- Dynafit, Silvretta, Pomoca, Salomon
North America, Scarpa, Scott, Sierra Designs, Smart Wool, Smith Optics,
Sterling Ropes, Suunto, Swany, Tecnica, Toko, Voile, Worth Skis
$10 gift card to International Mountain Equipment: We thought long and hard
about how to encourage those who work and play at a committed level in the
snow to come to ESAW 2013. We decided to help some of you who are on the
fence that belong to leading groups in Skiing, Climbing and Avalanche
education by offering a $10 International Mountain Equipment gift
certificate. If you are a current member of one of the groups below you
must bring current information that passes the straight face test! Not a
patch, sticker etc, but a membership card, a current copy of an
organization's monthly journal with your address on it, etc. We know there
lots of great groups that do fantastic education in the winter outdoors, but
we had to draw the line somewhere for this year so we don't have to tap
Kyle's retirement fund again. If you feel for 2014 we need to include
others please pull one of the organizers aside this year and make your case.
These are all great organizations so if you don't currently belong to one
think of it as $10 off to join one, get your card and get it back on
November 9th.
American Alpine Club
National Ski Patrol
Professional Ski Patrollers of America
American Avalanche Association
Canadian Avalanche Association
Mount Washington Observatory
Have current American Mountain Guides Association Certification
Have taken or instructed an Avalanche course with AIARE certification in the
past 24 months
SCHEDULE
*3nd Annual Eastern Snow and Avalanche Workshop-ESAW2013***
North Conway, New Hampshire 11/09/2013
0730 – 0815 Registration
0815 – 0830 Welcome, Introduction and Housekeeping - Kyle Tyler and Chris Joosen
0830 – 0915 Avoiding Avalanches Through Quality Weather Observations in the Field - Rebecca E. Scholand, Mount Washington Observatory
0915 – 1000 Winter Use in Baxter State Park
Ben Woodard Chief Ranger, Baxter Maine State Park
and Bob Baribeau, Mahoosuc Search and Rescue
1000 – 1015 Break -1015 Raffle
1015 – 1100 Human Behavior at the Ski Area Boundary
Doug Richmond, Bridger Bowl Ski Patrol Director
1100 – 1200 Short Sessions
Chic-Chocs Avalanche Bulletin: Behind the Scenes
Julie LeBlanc, Haute Gaspesie Avalanche Center** 15 min
Update on Eastern Man-Made Snow Avalanches
Roger Damon, Army Colonel,
Engineer, NSP Patrol Director, Pilot, Retired 15min
AvaTech-Changing the Game in Proactive Avalanche Safety
Brint Markle, AvaTech 30 min
1200 – 1300 Lunch -1300 Raffle
1300 – 1345 The Two Stages of Wet Snow; the Basic Physics and Why We Care
Sam Colbeck, U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering
Laboratory (Retired)
1345 – 1430 Uncertainty in Avalanche Decision Making - Dale Atkins, Recco and American Avalanche Association President*
1430 – 1445 Break – 1445 Raffle
1445 – 1530 Using “Avalanche Problem” Descriptors to Communicate Risk
Tim Brown, American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education
1530 – 1630 Short Sessions
Meteorological Variability on Mount Washington
Theoretical and Practical Applications Jeff Lane, USFS Mount Washington AC
and Cyrena Briedé Mount Washington Observatory 15min
Recco Avalanche Rescue System - Dale Atkins, Recco and American
Avalanche Association President 15 min
Bridger Bowl Avalanche Program and Operations
Doug Richmond, Bridger Bowl Ski Patrol Director 30min
1630 Closing remarks and move to Social and Avalanche Vendor Booths Upstairs at International Mountain Equipment (IME)