Northwest Snow Avalanche Workshop (NSAW) Nov 8

Ditto.

I think this NSAW was the best one ever... STRONG speakers on on timely and cutting edge topics; the most attended (over 600 in attendance) and the most well organized and operated.... and my $12 lunch rocked. And I strongly suspect that Scott Schell and crew learned volumes on this gig and the next one will one will be even BETTER.

Thanks Scott and CREW for all your hard work in creating this memorable event and thank you especially to you SPEAKERS for your memorable leading edge info and tools to make us all safer backcountry travelers.

Yeah, I thought the selection of topics was the best yet. There wasn't a dud anywhere in the program.

I was particularly intrigued by Susan Joslyn's talk about how to effectively convey risk in the presence of uncertainty. How hard would it be for NWAC to incorporate more of those ideas in their forecasts?

One suggestion I'll add is to include someone who's not in the outdoor industry in any panel discussing the future of the backcountry. I'd like to hear the panel's response to a curmudgeon who had the temerity to suggest that further "growing the sport" may not be the optimal solution to our access and crowding problems.      

Thanks for the feedback everyone! We've sent out an email with a link with a post-event survey. If you have the time, please fill it out as we plan on using input from our attendees to really dial in the event for future years.

Thanks again!

I was particularly intrigued by Susan Joslyn's talk about how to effectively convey risk in the presence of uncertainty.

Uncertainty is a sign that you lack the information required to make sound decisions. There are an almost infinite number of reasons one can feel uncertain, but the prescription never varies: always make conservative decisions when your uncertainty is high.

Dale Atkins wrote an absolutely incredible article on this subject in The Avalanche Review a few years back. Unfortunately, I can't link to it because the link to that particular back issue of TAR returns a 404 error at the moment.

How hard would it be for NWAC to incorporate more of those ideas in their forecasts?

NWAC has been adding this information to their forecasts. The forecasters are quite explicit when high uncertainty is associated with a particular forecast, but it's difficult for many recreational backcountry skiers to recognize the central importance of uncertainty with respect to backcountry avalanche forecasting.

Many of the hardest problems in avalanche forecasting, such as persistent weak layers, are a direct result of uncertainty arising from unknowns that cascade across different spatial scales.

Agree with previous comments -- NSAW was excellent.

I would have liked to hear the panel address the Federal ruling in April of 2015 that  the Forest Service needs to treat over-snow vehicles like any other off-road vehicle and include them in their travel management plan. The Forest Service will be contending with this on a forest-by-forest basis but this could easily be the biggest issue shaping what Northwestern backcountry skiing will be like in 5 or 10 years (which is what the panel was discussing). The Forest Service has punted on this issue for decades and, if local skiers don’t help force the issue, leadership in each forest will assuredly keep punting. This is one of those issues where local advocacy among backcountry skiers, snowboarders, and snowshoers could deliver substantial fruits.

I posted my recap of NSAW at the WenatcheeOutdoors.org website. For me the single most useful take-away was Volken's Hazard Evaluator. It's simple but struck me as a practical way to quiet all the subjective chatter convincing many of us to ski slopes we shouldn't. The application here was avalanches and skiing, but you can quickly apply this tool to climbing and falling, money and investing... maybe even women and dating ...or men and cutting your losses.

If you all liked NSAW, check out the NWAC Going Deep Series: www.nwac.us/education/nwac-classes/workshops/

Lynne Woolf is presenting this evening at REI (6-845p)
Recreate Like a Pro: Using a Systems Analysis Approach to Make Better Backcountry Decisions

If you’ve taken an avalanche class in the past decade, you’re well aware that human factors lead to over 90 percent of all avalanche accidents. So, what’s the answer and how can we better manage these “factors”? When professionals who study decision-making are asked this question, their answers are often similar: we need to take a systems analysis approach to the mountains. Join NWAC as we invite Lynne Wolfe to share her years of insights using a systems approach to staying safe in the backcountry. The first half of the evening, Lynne will focus on how to translate professional systems into tools for the recreationist; the second half will be an interactive session learning to apply some of these tricks and tips to your own practice.

Lynne Wolfe juggles winter work as the editor of The Avalanche Review with teaching avalanche classes for Yostmark Backcountry Tours and the American Avalanche Institute and ski guiding for Teton Backcountry Guides. During the summer she'd rather be riding her mountain bike, but still guides for Exum Mountain Guides in Grand Teton National Park. She drinks black coffee and Kentucky bourbon, and will accept dark chocolate from anyone. She lives on the west side of the Tetons with her husband Dan Powers and retired backcountry canine Chili-dog.