Workshop – Mountain Ski & Splitboard – Level 2 | Bariloche

Week 1 Activity

TERRAIN: Saturday 9 to 16hs

Mountain ski techniques. Cerro Catedral – Bariloche

Gaspar Lammuniere

AAGM Mountain Guide

AADIDES Level 2 Ski Instructor

Objectives: Unifying criteria on skiing techniques at tracks and slowly adventuring into backcountry skiing. Understanding basics: equilibrium, loads, active and passive absorptions during downhill. 

Anticipation when skiing and criteria for finding the right line according to snow quality, angles and traps.

• First part of the day: Use the means of elevation and tracks at the resort to unify criteria on technique. Get to know the overall level of the group.

• Noon: We’ll go back up and put those new concepts in practice. Trying to adapt the technique to the constant snow change found when out of the tracks.

End of the day: Using our touring skis we’ll head to the lake area where we’ll try to climb to the top. On our way up, we’ll pick our downhill line and pay attention to references (rocks, elevation changes, snow types). 

 

Class 1: Cartography and orientation (30min)

Objectives: We’ll go beyond the basics and dig deeper into more advanced concepts in orientation, charts and navigation. We’ll develop complex designs on snowy grounds and prepare the student for a continuous navigation during our outings.

• Quick Cartography basics review.
• Planning. Slopes.
• Concavity and convexity interpretation. Traps on terrain. 

 

Class 2: Planning itineraries on Google Earth (30min)

Objectives: Itinerary planning, marching times calculation, etc.

• How to design an itinerary on Google Earth?
• Roadmaps, elevation profiles and calculations. 
• Calculating marching times
• Practice. 

 

Class 3: Meteorology (30min)

Objectives: Atmosphere physics basics. Weather, atmosphere and its phenomena. Tools for forecasting on outings.  

• Meteorologic variables
• Weather forecasting
• Applied meteorology.
• Meteorologic models.
• Isobar maps
• Practice.

 

Class 4:Snow science (30mins)

Objectives: Snow stages: from formation to cover. Tools for a comprehensive assessment of avalanche risks.

• How does snow form?
• Cover metamorphosis
• Temperature gradient
• Snow Grains / cohesion types
• Physical properties

 

Class 5: Human Factor (30mins)

Objectives: Identifying human factor in decision making on terrain. 

• Leadership (NOLS)
• Heuristics
• Decision making in groups
• Organized search leader
• Topics organization and terrain classes preparation.

 

Class 6: GNSS navigation and softwares (30mins)

Objectives: GNSS devices, charts, navigation. How to use open software to plan itineraries. Practice.

• Review. 
• Importing and exporting waypoints and tracks.
• Settings.
• Google Earth, format settings. 
• Exercises.

 

Class 7: Planning the outing (30mins)

Objectives: comprehensive exercise with the contents learned so far. Planning marching times, possible itineraries, orientations, height differences, distances. Setting up tracks and loading them to your navigation device.

• Plans for contingency
• Escape routes
• Useful numbers and frequencies 
• Preparing presentations. 

 

Gear check and fine tuning our outing.

Bariloche: Frey Hut

The goal of this trip is to put everything we learned into practice. Some particular topics to be covered on terrain:

• Piolet and crampons use
• Advanced victims searching. Triage
• Snow anchors
• Rope usage in technical stretches. 

 

Practice ground location is very accessible. We’ll reach the hut in 3 hours from Villa Catedral. We could also reach Nubes using means of transportation and descend to the Van Titter Valley (for those with skiing passes). In any case, we’ll have to ski or ascend with our backpacks loaded with our gear (10 to 15 kg)

We’ll spend Saturday and Sunday nights at the hut. Practice sessions will be held in the surroundings, depending on the group, outings can be longer. 

8 to 10 hs of work are expected each day. 

Important! Location may change due to snow conditions and weather during the days planned.