This past week I was fortunate enough to complete an AST2 course with Soulrides. For those of you who aren't familiar with Soulrides, it is an avalanche education and consulting business started in 2010 by Jeremy Hanke. He was buried in 2004 in a huge class 3 avalanche that nearly claimed his life. After having the opportunity to speak about it for the Canadian Avalanche Association he decided it was time to reach out and not only help others become better educated, but begin the shift in culture in the sledding world.
Jeremy and his company Soulrides to me offered one big thing above the others. Personal experience. Not only a bad @ss rider with tons of logged days in some gnarly terrain but he knows first hand about avalanches from his close call and the importance of the training that ultimately saved his life.
Our instructors for the course were of course Jeremy Hanke, and then Jeff Cook. Both amazing riders, with tons of back country experience. I found the two complimented each other perfectly. While Jeff was a little more to the book, Jeremy had a more relaxed teaching style. I found they worked incredibly well together in order to pull off a fantastic course. The dynamic between them worked seamlessly, as Jeff would reign in Jeremy when he started to stray and Jeremy would relax Jeff if he was getting a little too theory based.
Jeremy's course style, although relaxed, covered all the necessary curriculum, but in a sledder friendly manner. What I mean by that is, it wasn't stuffy, ridged, stiff or theory heavy material that made you roll your eyes and do the head bob in class or out in the field. His incredible knowledge base actually blew me away, for a rough n tumble ex rig guy. Perhaps his teaching style came from knowing how courses such as H2S, first aid and any other oil rig type courses can be. He also never once said "You can't do that" or "You can't ride on that". He would aways say, you can ride whatever you want but make sure its the right decision for the day and the hazards that are out there. An interesting and different way to look at it. He was very realistic on how sledders actually are when they are out riding. A very refreshing approach.
We started every morning with questions. What is the forecast? What is the avalanche hazard? Where are we going? Why? What are the reasons for our decisions to go into a specific area? What is Plan A and what is Plan B? Most of us in the group already knew the forecast and avalanche ratings for the day but the more questions Jeremy asked, the more it got us thinking, well why did we want to go to that area. Trying to eliminate ego and human factors is difficult, as we learned. Some people get personally motivated to get back to a certain area and that is happening regardless of the other riders, weather or the avalanche hazard for the day. Kind of an eye opener as I'm sure we have all ridden with someone, or even maybe ourselves have been "that" personally motivated person for the day with a goal in their head that they will not let go of.
Moving through terrain correctly and efficiently was also a bit of an eye opener. The one day it clicked for all of us was in Eagles Pass moving by an area called Doghouse with a big avalanche chute. We moved through it with our leader for that section, to what we thought was a good method only to be told we could do it a lot better. Learning about islands of safety, line of sight, last point seen, we turned around and moved through it again, but this time in the right way.
I could go on about the course, what we did, what we learned, but the last thing I will say is that I think this is the level that sledders should be at as far as avalanche training goes. It truly was an eye opening course and experience. We had a great group with all different skill sets and back grounds to make the learning experience that much better.
Thanks to Soulrides for the great course.
http://www.soulrides.ca/home/
Jeremy and Jeff for being great instructors and mentors.
Adam, Chad, Lenard, Dustin, Marek and Dalton for taking the time and money to complete this course and make it happen.
Peaks Lodge for the amazing hospitality, from the rooms, to Gus's incredible meals day in and day out.
http://www.peakslodge.com
More links:
- Throttle Decisions Videos
http://vimeo.com/search?q=throttle+decisions
- Canadian Avalanche Center
http://www.avalanche.ca/cac/
Jeremy and his company Soulrides to me offered one big thing above the others. Personal experience. Not only a bad @ss rider with tons of logged days in some gnarly terrain but he knows first hand about avalanches from his close call and the importance of the training that ultimately saved his life.
Our instructors for the course were of course Jeremy Hanke, and then Jeff Cook. Both amazing riders, with tons of back country experience. I found the two complimented each other perfectly. While Jeff was a little more to the book, Jeremy had a more relaxed teaching style. I found they worked incredibly well together in order to pull off a fantastic course. The dynamic between them worked seamlessly, as Jeff would reign in Jeremy when he started to stray and Jeremy would relax Jeff if he was getting a little too theory based.
Jeremy's course style, although relaxed, covered all the necessary curriculum, but in a sledder friendly manner. What I mean by that is, it wasn't stuffy, ridged, stiff or theory heavy material that made you roll your eyes and do the head bob in class or out in the field. His incredible knowledge base actually blew me away, for a rough n tumble ex rig guy. Perhaps his teaching style came from knowing how courses such as H2S, first aid and any other oil rig type courses can be. He also never once said "You can't do that" or "You can't ride on that". He would aways say, you can ride whatever you want but make sure its the right decision for the day and the hazards that are out there. An interesting and different way to look at it. He was very realistic on how sledders actually are when they are out riding. A very refreshing approach.
We started every morning with questions. What is the forecast? What is the avalanche hazard? Where are we going? Why? What are the reasons for our decisions to go into a specific area? What is Plan A and what is Plan B? Most of us in the group already knew the forecast and avalanche ratings for the day but the more questions Jeremy asked, the more it got us thinking, well why did we want to go to that area. Trying to eliminate ego and human factors is difficult, as we learned. Some people get personally motivated to get back to a certain area and that is happening regardless of the other riders, weather or the avalanche hazard for the day. Kind of an eye opener as I'm sure we have all ridden with someone, or even maybe ourselves have been "that" personally motivated person for the day with a goal in their head that they will not let go of.
Moving through terrain correctly and efficiently was also a bit of an eye opener. The one day it clicked for all of us was in Eagles Pass moving by an area called Doghouse with a big avalanche chute. We moved through it with our leader for that section, to what we thought was a good method only to be told we could do it a lot better. Learning about islands of safety, line of sight, last point seen, we turned around and moved through it again, but this time in the right way.
I could go on about the course, what we did, what we learned, but the last thing I will say is that I think this is the level that sledders should be at as far as avalanche training goes. It truly was an eye opening course and experience. We had a great group with all different skill sets and back grounds to make the learning experience that much better.
Thanks to Soulrides for the great course.
http://www.soulrides.ca/home/
Jeremy and Jeff for being great instructors and mentors.
Adam, Chad, Lenard, Dustin, Marek and Dalton for taking the time and money to complete this course and make it happen.
Peaks Lodge for the amazing hospitality, from the rooms, to Gus's incredible meals day in and day out.
http://www.peakslodge.com
More links:
- Throttle Decisions Videos
http://vimeo.com/search?q=throttle+decisions
- Canadian Avalanche Center
http://www.avalanche.ca/cac/
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. Wicked course. Wicked instructors. Wicked students. Nice to meet everyone and will have to try to get "out for a rip" at some point.
