Eastern Snow & Avy Workshop= Nov 10

Save the date:
The 2012 Eastern Snow and Avalanche Workshop will be held on November 10 (Saturday) in the North Conway area!

The What will be held When and Where?

Okay, so if you missed the inaugural 2011 “ESAW” then you missed out on a day of avalanche safety presentations, followed by a social hour (and then some...), complete with prize raffles and vendor displays.

So even though you may not have attended, 85 of your fellow backcountry enthusiasts did, and we had to turn away about 40 more beforehand because of space limitations.  (Apologies again if you fell into that latter category!)

This year we are looking into a larger venue to accommodate everyone.

ESAW is a joint effort of the American Avalanche Association and the USFS Mt Washington Avalanche Center.  To get on the official email distribution list, send an email to the ESAWavalanche google mail account.  (And yes, we’ll eventually have an ESAW.org website.)

Article on last year’s event:

And here’s a nice write-up from Dave Lottmann (the EMS guide and avy instructor):
http://davidlottmann.wordpress.com/2011/11/07/eastern-snow-avalanche-workshop-11-5-11/

Also, as the presumptive Member Affiliate Representative elect to the AAA Governing Board, first and foremost, I really like using the word “presumptive” (just like that other guy from Massachusetts running for some office or other).  Second, I can reassure you that lots of schwag is already coming in for raffle prizes – Mister Ups is getting quite the workout bringing everything to my door (along with the usual Chinese plastic contraptions for our toddler daughter).  So although ESAW is not free, you stand a good chance to win back your registration fee in prizes!  (And it’s a small price to help keep yourself safe...)

Finally, while I have your attention (unless I’ve already lost it?), the dates for my own L1 avalanche course (the subject of a 2011 ESAW presentation):
http://avycourse.blogspot.com
... are November 18 classroom (in Northfield MA) and March 2-3 field sessions (Mt Washington).
The November 18 classroom session can also be taken as a standalone refresher course, since it’s almost entirely discussion, group exercises, etc. (with the “traditional” PowerPoint reduced for this, the classroom sessions’s fourth incarnation, down to about half an hour total throughout the day, since the basic technical knowledge foundation is achieved via pre-course reading on your own, not getting lectured at all day).