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A friend had suggested that I attend a Level One Avy course [intro.] if one was available in town. One of the great things about living in Missou is that many resources abound, especially at the University of Montana. A little while ago I attended one of the one hour avy sessions at the University and decided to go ahead and sign up for this one as well.

Recently events have been occurring both off piste and in bounds: Swiss (one includes skiers and a second a guided snowshoer), Liberty (an inbound event) and Billings (a snow machine event).

The course is put on by the professionals with MslaAvalanche and the Outdoor Recreation program at the U. It was two night classroom sessions followed by two full day outdoor sessions. The class filled up early.

The first night covered intros (the students consisted of some professionals and regular Joes such as myself), Terrain, Weather and Snowpack. A review of avy terms. Clips. Snowpit profiles and contributing factors to avy conditions. The instructor stated the same line that Todd's Hunter Ed instructor had said recently, choose your partner wisely.

The second night we covered pit Tools, Travel Protocols, Route Finding, the Human Factor and Communication. The instructors did a good job keeping the attendees involved/engaged during both of these evening sessions.

Saturday we loaded up the Griz chair early (no problem finding parking!) and met in the A -Frame. We discussed the avy report, weather, terrain, etcetera and then headed up to the base of Point 6 where folks were introduced to the location of the beacon park. Then we broke into small groups (we had attrition and were down to eleven) with additional professional instructors leading each group. We dug pits on two different aspects (east in morning and west in afternoon) after learning about measuring the slope angle and doing a terrain check. Our group used our instructor's saw and a knotted string. We did an Extended Column test (ECT), a Compression test and a Rutschblok test in both locations after switching instructors/leaders when moving to the different aspect.

The final day after another snow stability check (ECT pit) we practiced multiple burials in different scenarios. We were given a shirt and sticker the last day also. This introductory course was very well put on and all of the leaders were excellent.