Friends in the snow

25 Jan 08

After a long week out of action, I am back in Hakuba and on the snow again. Before my week away I had a few good days with various people. Bad snow but good to share the Hakuba backcountry.

Mio and Nigel on Tengubara

Nigel in the trees on my Dupraz

Toby made Happo his home

Kamoshika

Yesterday I tagged along with the Canadian Avalanche Association Level 1 course run by the CAA, Evergreen and JAN. It is the same 6 day course as the one in Canada and had about 20 students attending. I completed it last year (in Canada) and it has been instrumental in opening up my backcountry life, putting me in the network of good people and giving me the ability to gather valuable weather and snowpack data and ultimately contribute the JAN database. It is a serious course that yields serious benefits if you want them. The Hakuba base course is taught by three CAA instructors, one local and two who fly in from Canada, plus some experienced Japanese guides who act as translators. These facts are probably not known by the foreigners who are quick to criticise the state of Japanese avalanche education. JAN are progressive and active, the future looks good and I recommend those interested get involved by taking the Level 1 course next year, giving them a world class industry qualification, a pre-requisite for any backcountry employment most importantly, the chance to be part of what JAN are busy building.