Japan Avalanche Network Membership

6 Jan 08

Someone puts down a few long fast turns off Norikura Dake, above Tsugaike Kogen ski resort.

Great news!

I was recently given the opportunity to join the Japan Avalanche Network as a data contributor (JAN). Nadare is Japanese for Avalanche. This is quite a positive step for me - I am very pleased and also somewhat humbled by their acceptance. JAN hosts a website where daily weather, snow profile and avalanche data is posted by members. It is similar to the Canadian Avalanche Association “InfoEx”, an invaluable daily data set provided by guides and ski operations regarding snow stability observations on a regional basis in Canada. This data is then used as an input to decision making the following day. Unlike the CAA InfoEx, the JAN data is publicly available, not (understandably) restricted to member industry participants.

I am genuinely excited that there is an organization in Japan committed to developing such a service and that it is based on the CAA model, a very wise decision since it brings international consistency and certainly best practice to Japan’s leading avalanche related organization. It also integrates well with the unique opportunity in Hakuba to actually complete the CAA Level 1 qualification (in Japanese) with CAA instructors from Canada. In the past I flew to Canada from Europe to complete this industry training course and already it has been of great benefit in allowing me in gathering my own data and now, to contribute to the JAN database. I commend the course to anyone interested in the process of gathering industry standard weather and snowpack data used as an input to avalanche hazard assessment.

My involvement with JAN is quite straightforward: I travel in the backcountry almost every day and, using my CAA education, I record weather and snow profile data along with any avalanche activity that I observe. All that info is already being made publicly available here on Steep Deep Japan. Going forward I will also submit the data to the JAN website as a contributing partner. There are many other such active contributors across Japan. It may seem minor, but to me, it is fantastic that a CAA inspired data sharing network exists in Japan and I am very happy to be a part of it.

Besides the main JAN website, linked above, there is also the SPIN website which is also part of the JAN organization. SPIN = Snow Profile Information Network. This is where we centrally input snow pit profiles and they are likewise available to visitors seeking to make backcountry travel decisions. The SPIN site automatically represents snow profiles in table and graph formats (once again, CAA Level 1 compliant). Click around the table on this page and you will find what I am talking about. More on SPIN later.

The JAN and SPIN websites are in Japanese, which make it tough for most gaijin to use. I can think of several effort that I could make on Steep Deep Japan which will make the JAN data more accessible to the Kanji illiterate – like me. For the record, I contribute in English and the very nice JAN people behind the scene translate it for me.

Please note: JAN do not publish daily avalanche hazard bulletins. However the growth of JAN will quite possibly support this type of advanced public service in the future, either by JAN or another body.