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Avalanche Hazard Reduction and 'Post Control' and/or Surprise Avalanches

Friday, March 26, 2010
Colorado Mountain College - Leadville Room 121 of the Discovery Center

Agenda

• 8:00-8:30 Introduction – Ethan Greene
• 8:30-9:30 Overview of Explosive Engineering – Faisal Hashem
• 9:30-9:45 Discussion
• 9:45-10:45 Explosives, Snowpack and Avalanches – Larry Heywood
• 10:45-11:00 Discussion
• 11:00-11:30 Preliminary Discussion of Explosives Testing in Snow at Montana State University - Dan Miller
• 11:30-12:00 Discussion
• 12:00-1:30 Lunch
• 1:30-2:30 Patrollers Caught in Avalanches Triggered with Explosives - Scott Savage
• 2:30-3:00 Discussion
• 3:00-4:00 Case study: Liberty Bowl Post Control Release – Scott Savage
• 4:00-4:30 Snow Avalanche and the Law – Larry Heywood
• 4:30-5:00 Summary Discussion

Speaker Biographies

Faisal G. Hashem

• Cofounder (along with Vilem Petr) of the Explosives Engineering program in the Mining Engineering department at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM.)
• Chemist / technician with ORICA USA, Watkins
• Blaster with Aggregate Industries
• Still producing and processing course material, and/ or lecturing for the explosives engineering program and the university’s Special Programs and Continued Education arm (SPACE) for industry, national labs, government, etc
• President of the Colorado chapter of the International Society of Explosives Engineers (CO-ISEE)

Larry Heywood

Larry is a snow and ski safety consultant whose list of clients includes ski areas, land developers, insurance companies, law firms, engineering firms and a variety of government agencies. Among his many current activities he is the Technical Director of the California Ski Industry Association, the U.S. technical representative for a Swiss avalanche control company, and the Loss Control specialist for some of the largest U.S. ski areas. He started his ski patrol and avalanche busting career in 1970 as a professional ski patroller at Alpine Meadows. Over the next 34 years he worked his way up through the ranks from patroller, assistant director, patrol director and Director of Mountain. In 1996 he was the recipient of the prestigious Kingery Award from the American Association of Avalanche Professionals for his record of service to the avalanche community and contributions to avalanche field operational techniques. When not tracking down the “white beast,” he can usually be found fly fishing somewhere in the western states.

Dan Miller

Dan Miller is from Montana State University, Department of Civil Engineering. His research is in snow and ice mechanics with the Subzero Science and Engineering Research Facility.

Scott Savage

Scott studied chemistry and molecular biology at CU in Boulder in the late 80's. After graduating, he headed north to Big Sky MT to spend a few months skiing before heading off to med school. Plans change, and before he knew it he was having fun patrolling and getting scared doing routes with a young Ethan Greene. Scott spent 17 years working at Big Sky, mostly as an avalanche technician, forecaster, and snow safety director. He has instructed PAWS courses, published articles in The Avalanche Review, and has presented at ISSW's, CSAW's, avalanche professional development seminars, and other non-avalanche decision-making and leadership workshops. While recovering from 10 knee surgeries in the past 2 years, Scott has stayed busy researching and learning from his and others' avalanche related experiences and mistakes. Scott's ultimate goal is to figure out what he wants to be when he grows up - just in case he ever does.

Location