Dozens of great Avalanche training videos on the web

Watching videos at home is not enough to think you can wander into the backcountry. This is especially true if you are from a state with no mountains or snow and talk funny!

The first step in proper avalanche awareness is always do not go outside if conditions are bad! If you are an idiot, have no idea what you are doing, have just read books or watched YouTube videos you have no clue what you are getting into. Instead of getting into a mess take an avalanche course from a respectable instructor and donate to your local search and rescue group.

Step two is become a member of your local avalanche forecasting organizations so you can access their database of information and receive their updates. If you don’t know your center or are going to explore a new area start at http://www.avalanche.org/

If you have taken a course or want to prepare for one the internet has produced many great videos. Most of the videos are produced byproduct manufactures, and consequently, you are getting some advertising in the video, but it the videos are well done you won’t care.

The group leading off with great videos is Backcountry Access (BAC). BAC is known as the distributor of the Tracker avalanche beacon. BAC videos include:

www.skinets.com has a few videos online.

Mountain Equipment Co-op has a video on testing snowpack.

Avalanche Safety | How to Techniques for a Compression Test

There are several great videos to keep you fresh and bring new techniques to a knowledge and skill set, I hope you never use.

For other posts about avalanches see:

Ortovox CheckandRide

Good article on Avoiding Avalanches…….don’t go where there are Avalanches

Great Articles in the latest WMS Journal

Avalanche Beacons and other electronic items

Italy make avalanche safety gear mandatory

Another Man Made Snow Avalanche

Avalanche: Man-Made Snow to the Ground

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