Canadian Avalanche Association
The Canadian Avalanche Association (CAA) is a non-profit organization that promotes avalanche awareness and safety. The association provides a variety of services:
- Association Services: Administers CAA programs and assets, provides services to members, manages special projects, encourages research, represents Canada to the international avalanche community.
- CAA Industry Training Program: ITP offers a full range of training and continuing professional development courses for persons employed or seeking employment in activities where they are required to identify and/or actively manage avalanche hazards. ITP is a private, post-secondary training institution registered pursuant to the Private Post-Secondary Education Act in British Columbia, and the Private Vocational Schools Act in Alberta.
- Industry Services: Develops national technical standards, provides products and services for private and public sector operations, provides a national forum for issue resolution.
In addition, the CAA manages the Canadian Avalanche Centre, a national resource for coordinating and delivering public avalanche safety and accident prevention programmes and, most importantly, bulletins on avalanche conditions and ratings.
Avalanche Danger Rating
The Canadian Avalanche Association uses the following rating system for avalanche bulletins.
| Probability and trigger | Degree and distribution of danger | Recommended action in back country |
|---|---|---|
| Low (green) | Natural avalanches very unlikely. Human triggered avalanches unlikely. Generally stable snow. Isolated areas of instability. | Travel is generally safe. Normal caution advised. |
| Moderate (yellow) | Natural avalanches unlikely. Human triggered avalanches possible. Unstable slabs possible on steep terrain. | Use caution in steeper terrain |
| Considerable (orange) | Natural avalanches possible. Human triggered avalanches probable. Unstable slabs probable on steep terrain. | Be increasingly cautious in steeper terrain. |
| High (red) | Natural and human triggered avalanches likely. Unstable slabs likely on a variety of aspects and slope angles. | Travel in avalanche terrain is not recommended. Safest travel on windward ridges of lower angle slopes without steeper terrain above. |
| Extreme (red/black border) | Widespread natural or human triggered avalanches certain. Extremely unstable slabs certain on most aspects and slope angles. Large destructive avalanches possible. | Travel in avalanche terrain should be avoided and travel confined to low angle terrain well away from avalanche path run-outs. |
Avaluator
Avaluator is a card made by the Canadian Avalanche Association to aid avalanche risk assessment and decision making. It provides a "a simple, systematic way of making decisions in avalanche terrain."[1] The card consists of a grid with the Avalanche Rating on one axis and the Terrain Complexity on the other. The user has to line up the two sets of information to assess the risk and make an informed decision. The card also includes easy accessible information on terrain assessment and safe procedure. The term is a portmanteau of "avalanche" + "evaluator".Over 1400 North American avalanche incidents were studied and avalanche experts were interviewed to form the Avaluator.[1].
Risk Assessment Grid
The y-axis contains the usual danger scale as shown:
| Low | Moderate | Considerable | High | Extreme |
|---|
The x-axis contains the level of terrain complexity as shown:
| Simple | Challenging | Complex |
|---|
The two are lined up on the grid. The range that they fall in determine the risk.
Mobile Bulletins
In 2009 the Canadian Avalanche Centre partnered with Mountain Equipment Coop and the digital agency Idea Rebel to develop a free iPhone app that provides real-time avalanche bulletins, weather forecasts, and incident reports.[2]
References
External links
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