First-Annual Eastern Snow & Avalanche Workshop (“ESAW”)

Here’s a guest blog from Jonathan Shefftz on the first annual Eastern Snow and Avalanche Workshop in New Hampshire. Jonathan lives in western Massachusetts, where he patrols at Northfield Mountain and Mount Greylock. He is an AIARE and National Ski Patrol avalanche instructor, diehard rando racer, and “beacon geek of the East.” When he’s not searching out elusive freshies in Southern New England, he works as a financial economics consultant. Snow? Check. Mountains with above-treeline terrain? Check? Avalanches? Check. Avalanche fatalities? Check (unfortunately). USFS forecast center? Check? Avalanche safety courses affiliated with NSP, AIARE, AAA, and even CAA? Check. Professional AMGA mountain guides? Check. Multi-agency and volunteer SAR teams? Check. So what’s missing from this picture of the northeastern avalanche scene? Despite all the essential ingredients, we have never held a one-day regional version of an ISSW, even though such events are very popular in other regions of the country with avalanche terrain. That situation was corrected this year by the collaborative efforts of USFS Mount Washington Avalanche Center Lead Snow Ranger Chris Joosen and AAA Eastern Representative Kyle Tyler. The first-annual Eastern Snow & Avalanche Workshop (“ESAW”) was held on November 5 in North Conway, New Hampshire, at our generous host the Mount Washington Observatory Weather Discovery Center. Such a continuing education and community-building event certainly has strong demand, as half the initially planned 75-attendee limit was reached within a few hours of the first email announcement, and then filled up only five days later. The final tally was 85 attendees with about half that many never making it off the waitlist. The $45 per-attendee registration fee was supplemented with a $500 grant from the American Avalanche Association, and registration fee proceeds over and above the hosting costs went to the White Mountain Avalanche Education Fund to educate children in the northeast about avalanches. As with similar workshops in other regions, the presentations appealed to the present mix of snow professionals and enthusiastic recreationalists. Chris Joosen kicked off the event with a discussion of spatial variability in NH’s direct-action avalanche regime. Our avalanche climate is best characterized as arctic maritime: very high winds (including that longtime record-holder 231mph gust back in 1934) scour broad above-treeline fetch zones to load up steep glacial cirques. Deeply buried instabilities are rare (and even then are often quickly “paved over” by brutal thaw-refreeze events), while only several meters can separate deadly wind slab from no snow at all. Next up was Jim Giglinto, a New York State Forest Ranger for the Department of Environmental Conservation in the Adirondack High Peaks. Although almost entirely below treeline, the ‘Dacks have very thin soil, and hence are prone to massive summer-time landslides down to bedrock. These paths offer excellent backcountry skiing routes — with 16 more recently created by Hurricane Irene’s 13 inches of rain — but also allow for winter-time snow avalanches. After thus setting the geographic stage, three heavy-duty snow science presentations ensued: propagation propensity of persistent weak layers by Kyle Tyler (who studied snow science at Montana State University with some of the field’s iconic figures), upslope snow development and effects by Rebecca Scholand (a Mount Washington Observatory meteorologist, and brave enough to confess to this gathering that she doesn’t care about snow after it falls on the ground!), and snow physics by Sam Colbeck (retired from the U.S. Army’s Cold Region Research and Engineering Laboratory after three decades of groundbreaking cold lab research in snow crystal bonding). Chris then lightened up the tone a bit with a presentation on social media and other human factors involved in avalanches in the northeast (including Facebook-triggered rescues). Next, after the final of the four raffles from our many sponsors (including ten TAR subscriptions), Mammut representative Eric Siefer showed off the latest in avalanche safety technology, including of course a deployment of the new Mammut airbag pack. Your faithful correspondent then wrapped up with a version of his April 2011 TAR article on assigning pre-course homework to Level 1 students. ESAW finally adjourned down the street to our second host International Mountain Equipment for socializing, vendor displays, and a BCA airbag pack deployment. With strong attendance, strong presenters, and a strong sense of community development, everyone agreed that the only downside of ESAW was the realization that we should have held it in prior years too! But we all look forward to continuing our new annual tradition. Jonathan Shefftz lives with his wife and mondopoint-size 13 daughter (still too small for “Tech”-compatible ski touring boots) in Western Massachusetts, where he patrols at Northfield Mountain and Mount Greylock. He is an AIARE-qualified instructor, NSP avalanche instructor, and AAA affiliate member. When he is not searching out elusive freshies in Southern New England, he works as a financial economics consultant and has been qualified as an expert witness in federal agency Administrative Court, U.S. District Court, and state courts. He can be reached at jshefftz@post.harvard.edu.