Whitefish, MT – The 2nd annual Northern Rockies Avalanche Safety Workshop (NRASW) will take place from 7:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. this Saturday at the Grouse Mountain Lodge in Whitefish, Mont. This one-day gathering of avalanche professionals and winter backcountry enthusiast will feature six speakers with varied experiences, backgrounds and expertise in avalanche forecasting, theory, information processing, emergency decision-making and other up-to-date backcountry information.
“It’s great to be able to bring this workshop to Whitefish for a second year,” says Ted Steiner, NRASW Chairman. “The Workshop is about learning, networking, seeing old and making new friends. It’s also a time to remember that winter is on the way, get excited about getting outside, and most importantly, remember we need to be safe and educated when traveling the backcountry. We need to come home to our families and enjoy season upon season of future winter endeavors.”
Speakers lined up for the event include: Karl Birkeland, founder of the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center in Bozeman who has spent the past 30 years working professionally as a ski patroller, educator, backcountry forecaster and researcher; Scott Savage, an avalanche forecaster for Big Sky Resort in Montana who has more recently has toured the country giving lectures and talks analyzing his and other avalanche professionals’ experience and mistakes; LeeAnn Allegretto, the Avalanche Program Leader for the Missoula National Weather Service; Elyse Saugstad, a professional skier from Girdwood, Alaska who has a long list of accomplishments as a ski film star, competitive freeride skier and accomplished backcountry skier; Christopher Robinson, a Navy SEAL who specialized in assignments that dealt with stressful group dynamics and excelled in decision-making methods to optimize performance and survival; and Dale Atkins, who has more than 30 years of experience as an avalanche expert as a rescuer, forecaster, researcher and educator working in recreational, industrial and municipal domains.
Session topics range from technical (recent developments in stability and fracture propagation tests) to personal (Elyse Saugstad’s real life survival story at Stevens Pass last winter). The full schedule for the day is available online.
Saturday’s workshop costs $25 at the door, or $20 in advance online. For more information visit www.avalanchesafetyworkshop.com.