As part of our professional development program, Mountain Safety Collective (MSC) is pleased to announce co-funding for some students participating in the first ever Canadian Avalanche Association (CAA) Avalanche Operation Level 1 (Ops 1) course to be held in Australia.
Off the back of the sold-out Alpine Education Series, MSC is using the registration fees from the events to subsidise course fees for students who have committed to using their new skills to assist MSC in subsequent seasons. Co-sponsored by Arc’teryx and coordinated by Alpine Access Australia in conjunction with the CAA, the course provides graduates with the baseline skills for standardised snowpack observations.
With Australia’s backcountry community rapidly expanding, the need for consistent, accurate conditions reporting is becoming more important. MSC’s commitment to providing daily Backcountry Conditions Reports relies upon qualified field observers gathering standardised snowpack data, so having a bigger pool of Ops 1 graduates to work with us means we can continue to expand observations over a broader area whilst ensuring the longevity of the service in coming years.
The Ops 1 course is specifically designed for professionals who work in ski patrols, guiding operations and industries that require avalanche mitigation. Run over seven days, Ops 1 graduates need to pass course units in advanced avalanche rescue scenarios, terrain identification, weather and snowpack observation. A graduate is then qualified to provide observations into a forecasting service, with Ops 2 graduates becoming forecasters themselves.
For the Australian course, Alpine Access Australia has worked closely with the CAA to ensure the curriculum will be delivered to their strict standards. To deliver the course, two fully accredited Industry Training Program (ITP) Instructors are needed. A senior ITP instructor will be travelling from Canada to lead the course and will be joined by a locally accredited ITP Instructor. Based for the week in Charlottes Pass, participants will undertake all instruction deep in the NSW Main Range at the peak of the season’s snowpack.
MSC’s subsidy for the course is designed to reduce fees for participants who will then commit to providing a minimum number of field observations for MSC throughout the 2023 and 2024 Australian snow seasons. This gives the participants a guaranteed opportunity to practice their skills by feeding observations into MSC’s reporting platform, working closely with our Lead Forecaster and providing a pathway to joining MSC’s professional observation team in subsequent seasons. As the Ops 1 qualification is recognised as the gold standard globally, graduates will be well placed to work with international operations during Northern hemisphere Winters.
The initial twelve places on the course filled quickly by word of mouth, but if you’re interested in being on the reserve list or if the course runs in subsequent years, please contact Alpine Access Australia directly.