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I took this class last year at Lake Tahoe Community College and it was really great and a huge bargain. For $26, how could you not go??

A birdy just told me there are a couple spaces in the L1 class this Fr-Sun.

As the ultimate BC beginner, let me chime in my feelings from the course I took in January.

1) It's impossible to beat the price. Even if all we did for 3 days was tool around with beacons, it would have been worth the money. That said, it was obviously much more intensive than that.

2) The course is a survey course. It covers hazard evaluation, trip planning, travel techniques to an extent, and rescue. It did not make me a competent expert in any of the these areas, nor did I expect it to. I considered it a hands-on primer.

3) The rescue scenarios were reasonably complex and in that sense it was helpful to get beacon and probing practice under pressure. We were able to take away some key points from what we could have done better in our rescue, and what we were doing well.

4) I felt like shoveling was under-emphasized in discussion and practice when going over rescue scenarios. If avy debris really does set up to 40-60% water content then not only is it freaking heavy (3-5 pounds a gallon) but it is supposed to be hard as all hell. Understanding and emphasizing smart shoveling (as it can be the longest portion of a successful rescue) is key!

5) I had a lot of fun with the hands on stuff though. We headed out to the Red Lake parking area and did tromped about looking at snowpack depth, wind, and learning how to use our senses to evaluate clues.

6) Bret Hackett and Ryan McPartland are good hands-on guys, but they're not science geeks so don't expect a lot of talk about vapor transfer in metamorphism, etc. These guys rely on a combination of prevailing schools of thought, experience, and good sensibility for their decision making. Their instruction style is built from this background.

7) Overall navigation skills and their impact on route selection and planning are outside of the scope of this course. That meant that once we were in avalanche terrain, it was more about looking at the contours to find the most sensible ways up and down.

Overall, thumbs up, it was fun, met some cool people, did some cool exercises, learned some important things. As they like to say, "it is the beginning of my lifelong avalanche apprenticeship." I should never forget who is the student and who is the master.

Today's the first day of open registration for the best deal in avy education. This morning there were still four Avy 2 and eleven Avy 1 spots open at Lake Tahoe Community college. Anyone can sign up. My 4-day Avy 2 class cost me $58.50.

Solid deal for sure. Brett Hackett and Ryan McPartland are funny guys. I haven't had a class with Rosie Hackett yet. The level 1 class isn't the most in-depth from a science/technical perspective, and the field work component could be a bit more deeper, but the rescue scenarios, practice, and case studies were pretty good.

I'm gonna wait another season of experience before doing level 2.

Thanks for the heads-up Storn! Needed to update my Avy I to the AIARE curriculum, can't afford not to do it given those prices.