PHOTOS BY ANDREW MILLER

WORDS BY CHRIS COULTER,ANDREW MILLER and NICO NOLAN

Avalanche safety is something the Levitation Project staff and team take very seriously. Every year in one way or another the LP crew take the needed steps to hone their skills and refresh as much as possible. We would like to give a special thanks to Snowbird,utah avalanche center, Craig Gordon,Bruce Tremper, Dean Cardinale, Jim Conway, Jared Ishkarian, Logan Cookler, Gordy Phiepher, Dale Atkins, Airmed, Jen Berg, Brant Moles and everyone else who helped educate our crew a little more on the saftey,dangers and precautions with backcountry travel.

For more information, go to utahavalanchecenter.org or call (888) 999-4019

“The Snowbird  & Utah Avalanche Center Freeride Avalanche summit was a great course!  It was quite impressive how much material we covered in two days.It was raw and to the point, with an all-star line up of Forecasters, Pro Patrollers, Pro Athletes and Guides.

Each day started off with a sunrise tram and a few laps to get the ants out of your pants. We would spend the first half of the day in the Alpine room.  The crew covered many great and important topics such as new advances in technology with the avalanche air bag backpacks, Avalungs, and beacons.The course covered different types of rescue scenarios, strategic shoveling, safe traveling techniques, basic first aid and various other avalanche related topics. Also they covered when, how and who to call for backup when your in trouble in the backcountry. An avalanche forecaster went over how to use the Utah Avalanche Center daily forecast and website.  TGR Lead guide, Jim Conway, taught the class about terrain assessment.   Pros talked about close calls they had, and the mistakes that were made. On snow we did single and multiple burial beacon recoveries, Recco, shoveling and probing techniques.   We got to feel what a real person feels like under the snow with a probe.  We practiced taking charge of a situation and organizing a rescue.  We dug snow pits with some of the top avalanche experts in Salt Lake.   Everyone in the class had to perform a beacon recovery in under 3min.  The course finished up with a written test.

You owe it to your backcountry partner and yourself to participate in these types of classes. For more information go to www.utahavalanchecenter.org http://www.utahavalanchecenter.org A big thanks to Snowbird, UAC, instructors, the people who attended and everyone who made this a great and informative course! ”       CHRIS COULTER

DAY ONE

The main man behind the UAC Freeride Avalanche Summit Craig Gordon welcoming everyone to the early 7:00-am start of Day one.

The morning patrol briefing by Snowbird Head Ski Patrol Dean Cardinale. He also touch on factors in how and when to notify Wasatch Backcountry Rescue, numbers to call and a detailed season snowfall history as well as how Snowbird tracks and measures the valleys snow.

Solitude Ski Patrol Logan Cookler explaining one of the most overlooked and time consuming steps of the rescue: Excavation and Strategic Shoveling.  Using strategic shoveling techniques can drastically reduce excavation leading to you getting your buddy out faster and saving his life.

AirMed flew in to explain a little more on LZ’s and patient care before help shows up.  This ship is  dedicated to the Wastach front. Very important to program these guys number in your phone if your doing any kind of backcountry travel.

Coulter spreading the word about avalanche safety

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AIRMED cruising out after  dropping some very import knowledge to the class.  No better way to roll out then to rotor wash the group!

After the Heli tease we broke up in groups to start five skill stations.  Here station one single beacon recovery.

Practice Practice Practice!!! You need to make it a point to come practice at the beacon centers located at Snowbird, Solitude and the Canyons.  Its very easy….just roll up with solo or with friends choose your level on the machine and start hunting.  Once your probe hits the sensor it beeps and a lightflashes recording your time.

Here at station two Coulter leads the multiple burial beacon charge locating his second victim closely watched by  Ski Patrol and local canyon badass Dave Richards. Station Three: Ever wonder what the hell RECCO does? Well here is your answer.  Dale Atkins explains  how to use a Recco device to pick up Recco signs from clothing.  They are typically only supplied and focused towards ski resorts and can be very helpful if a victim is not wearing a beacon but has Recco in there jacket,pants or boots. Station Four: Probing and Strategic shoveling.  We got the chance to actual to feel what its like to probe a real person. Feels soft and squishy if your were wondering.  After pinpointing your signal and marking your grid its best to start in the center and probe in outward circles of your grid. Logan Cookler putting our group to the test mocking a burial and having us focus on strategic shoveling with four people. You need to start downhill of your probe strike at least 1.5 x burial depth at about 1 wing span wide.  Start digging on your knees throwing snow side to side terracing your way into the slope and your victim. You need to have enough room to be able to roll over your victim if necessary since studies show most avalanche victims are buried prone (face down). Station Five: Putting it all together and Taking Charge. We had a uphill mock burial with a group of five searching.  Things got a little confusing and the most important thing I learned from this is Communication is KEY. After being outside all afternoon we headed back for an evening debrief and real line selection with Big Mtn Skier  Brent Moles.  Brent showed and explained in depth how he was caught in avalanche in AK while filming with TGR.

Day one wrap with Craig Gordon.  Remember to always discriminate who you go out with because if shit hits the fan your life depends on their decisions and knowledge on how to you out.

DAY TWO

Another early 7am tram ride.

Another amazing sunrise on top of the bird. Definatly could get used to this!

Dean Cardinale came back for another Snowbird Ski Patrol Briefing letting us in on what control work was being done for the day.

UAC head forecaster Bruce Tremper lecturing on snow pack structure, assessment and testing techniques. Bruce is of the main guys on the fore front of avalanche forecasting as well as developing new techniques and rating charts boasting over 30 years of avalanche experience.

Another heavy hitter in the avalanche world Head TGR guide Jim Conway explaining the key to terrain assessment. Both Jim and Bruce have co developed most of the charts, examples andavalanche encyclopedia on avalanche.og

We had the opportunity to head into Mineral basin before it was open to the public to dig snow pits and conduction our own assessments of the snow pack.  Here Jim Conway in his element giving us a first hand demonstration of a single column compression test.

After reading Bruce’s book “staying alive in avalanche terrain” it was rad to observe him in action here demonstrating the extented coulmn test.

Two big guns in the ski and snowboard world Jenn Berg and Chris Coulter scoping out lines in the back of mineral basin.

We broke into our same groups as day one and headed out to get our hands dirty and assess the snow.

In our particular area we performed three basic snowpit tests. Hand Hardness, Single column and Extended column compression test.

One the first red flags and best clue of avalanches are AVALANCHES!

Here the whole class got to investigate a recent soft slab avalanche triggered by Ski Patrol on a North east facing slope of Mineral

Another day at the office for Bruce Tremper as he conducts his own assessment of the recent slide. After a chilly afternoon back in Mineral we headed back down to the conference room for a final lecture with Craig Gordon on using your local avy advisory.  This is the first thing you should check before planning to go anywhere out of bounds.

After the written test the day was wrapped up with another real life line selection story from big mountain skier Gordy Pfieffer.  Gordy took us through his play by play acount of getting swamping by a 70mph sluff on the famous Alasakan face “tomohawk”