American Alpine Institute Avalanche Course / by Alasdair Turner

The last couple of weekends have been spent teaching avalanche courses for the American Alpine Institute.  Although the snow pack has been a little boring, the weather has been great and it has made for some great courses.  Below are a few photos of the last two trips.   

Early morning skiing in some nice light.

Early morning skiing in some nice light.

Route finding and some wet surface conditions.

Route finding and some wet surface conditions.

Although most of the snow was pretty solid,  Small areas of instability were found.  Here we conduct compression tests on the snow.  

Although most of the snow was pretty solid,  Small areas of instability were found.  Here we conduct compression tests on the snow.  

Failure layers in the first 20cm.

Failure layers in the first 20cm.

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Time to ski. 

Time to ski. 

A little route finding practice.  

A little route finding practice.  

South slopes with lots of sun showed evidence of recent slides.   

South slopes with lots of sun showed evidence of recent slides.   

Mount Baker in the distance.  

Mount Baker in the distance.  

Skinning to find good snow.  

Skinning to find good snow.  

Good snow had been located.  

Good snow had been located.