This past weekend I edfied my brain and reduced my propensity for stupid actions by taking an Avalanche Safety course in the nearby Hakuba area. Since I know myself and in particular, I know that in the future I really want to be able to go into the back country and come out alive, I decided to take this course. I just wish that I had taken it earlier while there was more of the season left.

I learned a great deal, particularly, that I never want to get stuck in an avalanche. Without searchers who are properly trained and if you're party is not using avalanche beacons, you are totally screwed. We did a field test where there were three beacons and one large backpack buried in a 50 by 50 meter area and my 3 classmates and I had to find the buried "victims". The three beacons we found at about 5 minutes, 7 minutes and 15 minutes respectively, while the buried "body" without a beacon took us a full 50 minutes to find. At 5 minutes you have a 90% chance of survival. At 15 minutes it's about 80% at 45 minutes it's down to 5%. Moral of the story, wear a beacon and make damn sure that your group members know how to use theirs.