1.05.2010

Are You Allergic to Vanilla?

No doubt if you’re reading this, you are. Plain vanilla is good for ice cream. But adventure?

Maybe not so much.

That’s why the next sPEAKer series event scheduled for Wednesday, January 6th (that’s tomorrow) at 7 PM is focused on avalanche awareness and aimed at the adventurer in all of you. No doubt you’ve heard about today’s avalanche fatalities in Canada and Switzerland after these latest storms. You may be traveling there, you may be staying home, but a little knowledge is a powerful thing for these unstable conditions.

The CMC members leading this information session are all American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE) approved and trained. They know their stuff from their 300+ days in the field. Your time will be well spent learning about types of avalanches, terrain, snowpack and weather on top of trip planning and travel techniques. It’s not a Level I certification class and there’ll be no training in beacon use or search and rescue/recovery. But it’ll open your eyes to the risks and, more importantly, the basic safety measures that enable good backcountry decision-making.

So the snow may look plain vanilla while it’s anything but. Save the ice cream for your bowl at home and your wits and wisdom for the bowls above treeline.

$3 CMC/AAC Members, $5 Non-Members - FREE to Friends of the Museum and Friends of the AAC Library. Museum admission is included in the ticket price and will be open from 5:30 – 6:30; light noms provided. Base Camp Adventure store will also be open for purchases.

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