Avalanche Accident Prevention Card
The Avaluator helps backcountry users make safer decisions in avalanche terrain. It forms the core of our Avalanche Skills Training 1 course and is also used in AST 2 courses. It is provided to all students enrolled in AST 1.
The Avaluator is designed to be used in two stages: planning the trip at home and making decisions on the trip. The first stage—the Trip Planner—guides the user in choosing an objective appropriate to the current conditions and the individual’s comfort level. The second stage—the Slope Evaluation card—is a two-sided card that provides a structured approach for assessing avalanche slopes by incorporating easily collected critical information.
You can easily spend a lifetime developing your avalanche safety skills. The Avaluator will help you avoid the most obvious mistakes and start you on a path of learning and practising safe winter travel habits.
You can purchase it in our store.
Trip Planner
The Trip Planner card is the component of the Avaluator that helps recreationists plan their day in the backcountry. Using a simple graph, it connects the avalanche danger rating with the terrain rating of the area one plans on visiting to provide a recommendation on what level of caution should be taken given the forecast avalanche conditions. The user can then decide whether or not to proceed or go somewhere else.
Slope Evaluation Card
The Slope Evaluation Card is the component of the Avaluator that deals with slope-scale decisions. It employs a scoring system for avalanche conditions and terrain characteristics variables. After calculating the scores for each, the user applies these scores to a grid which suggests whether or not the slope in question is appropriate to travel on.
