Everyone Welcome to Backcountry Awareness Day
By Diana Daghofer
Rossland Search and Rescue (RSAR) is hosting Backcountry Awareness Day on Saturday, March 2 at Red Mountain Resort. Anyone interested in winter recreation is invited to learn about:
- What to do if you are lost in the backcountry, including how to build a snow shelter and a fire on snow;
- Backcountry First Aid Basics – what to do if you or someone in your group is injured;
- Avalanche rescue skills, including practice in transceiver, probe and rescue shovelling techniques;
- Avalanche Safety Courses – what’s available, what you will learn and how to access courses in our area.
- State of the snowpack – what is going on in our snowpack and how to assess slopes.
RSAR members are avid outdoors-people and include a number of professional ski patrollers, an emergency physician and first aid experts. Among our speakers at Backcountry Awareness Day is Dr. Anne-Marie Baribeau, an emergency doctor with a Diploma in Mountain Medicine (DiMM). Anne-Marie has significant experience travelling in the backcountry and will give a talk on backcountry first aid techniques.
Nick Padoin is an instructor with Kootenay Avalanche Courses and will talk about the value of Avalanche Safety courses, the various courses available and what people can expect to learn from them.
Professional ski patrollers will lead a talk on avalanche snowpack assessment – what makes a stable versus unstable snowpack, what is involved in avalanche control and what are the most common places where people get lost, to name a few topics.
Everyone is welcome to take part on this informative day! Join us for great learning, hot chocolate, snacks and great prizes!
Event: Backcountry Awareness Day
Date: 9:00-3:00, Saturday, March 2, 2024
Location: Red Mountain Resort – base area.
Further information: Diana Daghofer; diana@rosslandsar.com
