[Jonathan S]

As the thread title says, I am trying to obtain copies of some ski area avalanche rescue plans. Out East we have only two ski patrols with avalanche terrain -- I have the rescue plan for one of them, but it's not intended for public dissemination, and the location has many unique characteristics so I can't hide its identity by selective redaction. Probably ditto for the other one too.
Would be used for this course I'm teaching:
http://avycourse.blogspot.com/2010/06/winter-field-sessions-rescue-plan.html
Many thanks in advance to anyone who can help out, plus I'd definitely be interested in feedback on this assignment.
(Yes, I know, kind of pushing it for an introductory course, but I'm trying to take seriously the new distinction of NSP "Rescue Personnel" courses, along with lots of assignments outside of class to maximize the utility of our in-person time.)
_________________
My Dynafits are powered by GU.

[Snowman]

I think you'd get this background, at an introductory level, from the CAA (Professional) Level 1 course. The topic was covered in the transportation and industry version if I recall, and I assume the ski ops covers it. I don't know if you'll get an actual ski area plan, but the elements one should include would probably be covered. Maybe there is something in their course notes.

I'm not sure how many ski areas are willing to disseminate their actual plans. If they are I would guess you'd have better luck working within the NSP than on a forum.

You could also look at the final reports on ski area fatalities and see what it says about their plans and what was followed, criticized, etc. They may be hard to find now, but the springtime avalanche fatality in CO several years ago had a publicly available report and I'm pretty sure the LVSS incident in the Spring mountains also had a report that was available.

I'm not sure what you'll gleam from these reports but they might be useful if you can still find them. I should have copies saved somewhere but can't look for them right now, contact me in a couple weeks if you're interested and still looking. Maybe somebody else has copies they can send you quicker than I can at the moment.

Jim

[Jonathan S]

I looked through your database to refresh my memory of those two incidents, but didn't find anything quite on topic for my purposes.
I did to my surprise find that LVSS had another in-bounds avy the prior season!
Also, some googling reveals that the fatal incident reached a settlement last year:
http://thegoat.backcountry.com/2009/07/07/family-of-boy-killed-in-inbounds-las-vegas-avalanche-settle-lawsuit/
Plus came across this:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/htnf/projects/smnra/lvss/dn_fonsi.pdf
_________________
My Dynafits are powered by GU.

[Snowman]

There wouldn't be anything in the archived reports that would serve your interests of operating plans. You'd need to identify ski area incidents and then see if there is any public review from the USFS, which often comes out much later. These are longer and more detailed than what gets kept online in the archive, they generally go well beyond any general public interest.

The incident prior to the fataility had little or nothing in common with it. If I remember correctly it was skier triggered in an out of the way place, I wasn't sure it was even within the bounds. The fatality resulted from an extreme avalanche that resulted from extreme weather conditions. The article on the settlement reflects no understanding of this at all. The path that slid had come close to the boundary but stopped short of it once in the history of the areas operations. The ski area had no expertise in analyzing this kind of extreme event, and the USFS accepted the operations and mitigation planning with no recognition of this possibility either. (Unlike the ski area the USFS does claim to have the necessary expertise, and reviews and accepts all of the plans.)

Are you planning to cover mitigation plans, or rescue/response plans? It seems like the latter would be more relevant most NSP students. They may need to participate in a response, but very few are likely to be involved in overall mitigation efforts (other than maybe delivering charges where and how they're instructed to.) Both may be in the same overall plan, but it still may be helpful to make the request more specific.

Jim

[Jonathan S]

[Hacksaw]

Jonathan,

Have you looked at the new book the NSP published early this year by Lin Ballard and Dale Atkins? Its called, "Avalanche Rescue Fundamentals."
_________________
"Never kick a fresh turd on a hot day." Harry S Truman

- - - - - -

[Jonathan S]

Whoah, thanks -- I have the October 2009 draft pdf on my computer, but I didn't realize the final version had come out yet.
The NSP catalog says "Will begin shipping March 8, 2010" so that explains why I didn't have it in time for this season -- thanks for the heads-up.
_________________
My Dynafits are powered by GU.

[Hacksaw]

Yeah, you will especially appreciate chapter 4 (Organized Rescue Planning) chapter 5 (ICS) chapter 7 (Rescue Operations) and chapter 8 (Different Settings for Avalanche Rescue).

HM
_________________
"Never kick a fresh turd on a hot day." Harry S Truman

- - - - - -

[telemike]

Jonathan

Pick out some ski areas you want to get info from and contact the patrol directors to see if they'll share thier info. Talk to folks at ISSW.

FYI - A lot of this info is public, whether the ski areas want it to be or not. If they operate in NF lands, they should have an avalanche recue plan on file as part of the Special Use Permit. Those could be obtained from the FS with a FOIA request.
_________________
Ad astra per alia porci

[telemike]

also - in reference to Snowman's comments - I have copies of the Las Vegas and A Basin reports around somewhere
_________________
Ad astra per alia porci

[skibum]

This is probably a silly question, but isn't the basic approach to organized rescue the same regardless of which ski area? I guess it might change a little depending upon if the area has Recco or avalanche dogs, but otherwise the steps to a rescue are pretty standard aren't they?

If you did want to track all of them down, I would call the district ranger. If that didn't get you going, you could always use an open records act request. You just have to be pretty specific in what your asking for.

Personally, I am all in favor of only skiing areas that have a St. Bernard with a whisky barrel These little lab mixes that everyone seems to love don't seem to be able to carry nearly enough alcohol for a good rescue.

[Snowman]

Sure the basic fundamental approach is pretty universal. But an area specific plan will reflect details such as what equipment is cached and where, and things like this may play a role in the initial response as far as getting the right gear from the right place to the scene.

Different areas also differ in the amount of avalanche terrain they have and how dispersed it is throughout the area, in the size of their patrol, whether they have a dedicated avalanche or snow safety position (as opposed to this being one of many responsibilities for one person), etc.

They may also differ in the emergency services (of the 911 type) that are put on alert upon any report of a potential avalanche. Some may have ambulance service near by, others may rely more on air transport (and therefore need a backup source of help in the case of poor weather for flying).

So the details of a plan and its specific procedures may vary from one area to another.

Unfortunately I haven't seen too many St Bernards with the barrel around. There used to be one on the wall in the Shooting Star Saloon, but that was a while ago and I don't know if they still have it. That one wasn't going to show up at the scene any more though.

[skibum]

Thanks for the reply Snowman. Personally, I knew mountain rescue was all going downhill when I heard the last St. Bernard had been retired

Your answer makes some sense. The patrol shack at A-Basin has stacks of avalanche rescue packs ready and several rescues each year. Meanwhile, the guys at Boyne Mt would probably have to go find the key to the storage shed because the closest avalanche is when Colorado hockey comes to Detroit

I just don't quite follow what the class objective would be? Reading legal documents prepared for the USFS sounds kind of boring.

[Jonathan S]

[skibum]