Glenmore Lodge And Avalanche Education

In 2011 we started to review how we coached avalanche education to students on courses at Glenmore Lodge.

- Jon Jones

In this article I would like to share some of our experiences, including who in the sector we have learnt from and shared knowledge with, what processes we now use to teach avalanche education and to also share some of our findings from our internal staff and student surveys.

Post 2011 our main teaching tool used to educate others about avalanche risk was the ‘Avalanche triangle’ (Snow Sense, Fredston and Fesler), consisting of weather, terrain and snowpack, with people at the centre. This practice was largely undertaken out on the hill, with weather and avalanche forecasts observed prior to heading out. This is still a useful tool but there are others out there which have helped shape the current approach (which will be explained in more detail later) to avalanche education. Whilst planning was still a common theme, when on the hill we used to complement our planning by digging small pits (commonly called quick/hasty pits) or utilised the ‘Walking Rutschblock’ to help educate about decision making. We trained people to operate in unpredictable environments, in part because we felt you had to, to be a successful Scottish mountaineer.

Our experience, along with evidence from all our safety, avalanche partners and peer groups has rightly challenged this outlook (spatial variability being one reason) and we now ask why we should normalise travel within unpredictable environments. Today we have never had so much information at our finger tips during planning; twenty years ago we did not even have bespoke mountain weather forecasts. Our avalanche forecasts along with snowpack data are far more accessible and any digging in the snow is now used to identify any weak layers to increase our understanding of the snowpack, not as a green light to carry on. In other words, we look into the snowpack only to confirm what we already know and not to find critical new information.