Avalanche safety focus of courses

Educating back-country enthusiasts about the nature and risks of avalanches forms the basis of two courses to be held by the Mountain Safety Council in Queenstown from July 1. Photo from ODT files.

Skiers, boarders, trampers and climbers are being urged by the Mountain Safety Council to register for avalanche awareness and back-country avalanche courses.

The non-profit organisation announced this week registrations were open for this year's courses. The course on avalanche awareness for skiers and snowboarders provided "essential" introductory information for snow sports enthusiasts, to help them make decisions about their personal safety in avalanche terrain, the council said.

The course, costing $150, includes a two-hour evening lecture at the Queenstown police station, on July 1 and 29 and September 29. Field days are held on the Remarkables skifield area on the weekends after.

The back-country avalanche course, costing $650, is a four-day course designed for the recreational traveller skiing, snowboarding or climbing in uncontrolled alpine terrain.

It was aimed at people with basic avalanche knowledge. The council said it was ideally suited for those who intended to travel in alpine terrain and were looking for instruction on making "evaluative decisions" on route selection and personal safety.

The course will be held on July 16 to 19, preceded by an evening lecture on July 15, then on September 3 to 6 (evening lecture on September 2).

Programme manager Andrew Hobman, of Christchurch, said perfect conditions for fresh back-country trails were also often perfect conditions for avalanches.

Mr Hobman said the courses would help participants understand the nature of snow packs and the eight broad categories of avalanches.

"Avalanches are very difficult to predict. They have a complex set of things in four dimensions - the weather above the snow pack, the surface of the snow, in the snowpack, in terms of temperature, and the bed surface of the snow pack."

Instructors would explain how to identify safe and hazardous areas and shatter myths, such as the notion sound was a cause of an avalanche.

"Avalanches do not strike - 90% were caused by the individual themselves, or someone in their party," Mr Hobman said. A lot of skill and knowledge was needed to accurately forecast avalanches and knowledge came from education.