Summit Daily file
BRECKENRIDGE — The 18th annual Colorado Snow & Avalanche Workshop — described as “a one-day professional development seminar for people working and recreating in and around avalanche terrain” — will feature presentations where experts discuss new ideas, techniques and technologies in avalanche research and fieldwork.
The workshop is from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4, at Breckenridge’s Riverwalk Center and is open to the public. Tickets are $25 through Sept. 26 before bumping up to $40 the next day.
This year’s topics will include a focus on the area’s historic March 2019 avalanche cycle, presented by Brian Lazar, of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
Anne St. Clair, of the Avalanche Research Program at Simon Fraser University, will lead a presentation dubbed “How Recreationists Understand Avalanche Bulletin Information and the Opportunities for Making It Better.”
Frank Techel, of the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research, will present on Level 5 Avalanche Danger in the Swiss Alps. In a social media post earlier this week, the Friends of CAIC nonprofit said the presentation will center around a January 2018 incident where thousands of visitors and residents were trapped in the Swiss Alps due to heavy snow and extreme avalanche danger. In the post, Friends of CAIC said Techel’s presentation will touch on “using local danger level estimates for regional forecast verification.”
The workshop also will feature a presentation on “understanding digital elevation models for better trip planning,” which will be hosted by Jeff Deems, of the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
The event is put on by the Colorado Avalanche Information Center and the Friends of the CAIC and presented by The North Face.
For more information and to register, visit Bit.ly/riverwalkavyworkshop.