Back to the Classroom

Tonight was the first night of the Avalanche Level 1 Certification course with Exum Mountain Guides. I think I'm going to like this course alot. It's right up my alley with being a nice combination of science and the great outdoors. It was also a good feeling to be back in the classroom; I actually kind of miss it.

As you can imagine with taking an Avy (note: short for Avalanche) course in a ski town, the classroom structure is pretty lax. Instead of being a formal, strict lecture, the instruction style is more like an interactive conversation between the instructors and the students. Instructors loosely follow their notes and obviously depend more on their own related experiences, while students effortlessly chime in with their questions and/or experiences so that the whole group gains from the conversation.

So far, I'm impressed with the quality of the instructors. The life of Ron Matous, who is the main instructor, appears to revolve around avalanches. Besides having impressive mountaineering and backcountry skiing achievements, he can vividly describe and accurately explain the source of any avalanche in the states of Wyoming, Utah or Colorado that date as far back as the late '70s and either personally touched his life or was written about in the local paper. It's a privilege to be learning from someone of his caliber and that lives, breathes and shares all that he knows on this subject so that other people can also enjoy backcountry skiing in a safe way.

In addition to Ron, Jim Woodmencey is a weather forecaster for an Alaskan Heli Skiing company, as well as THE local weather forecaster for the unpredictable and often changing weather of the Tetons. Last but not least is Nat Patridge, who is a co-founder of the well-respected Exum Mountain Guide service and has years of guiding clients on high-adrenaline heli ski trips in Alaska and Jackson.