Students don't go on your average field trips, and a pencil isn't the only thing you'll find in their backpacks. When out in the field, participants learn to effectively use and maintain skis, snowshoes, a variety of winter camping gear, outdoor wear, crampons, ice axes, navigation tools, and plenty of climbing equipment.
The class itself consists of two parts: a Wednesday night lecture led by professor Stan Justice or guests speakers who give students insight into their particular area of expertise, and a Saturday field study outing. Past speakers have included Tamar Young, an avalanche specialist and UAF student; Tim Stallard, a hypothermia and clothing specialist; and Paul Buccigross, a National Ski School instructor and expert in high altitude effects and First Aid rescue.
The Saturday field workshop involves putting skills to use in mountainous settings. The students have been working on skills at spots around campus but visited some slopes this past weekend to put their newly learned skills into action. Expedition leader and employee of the Alaska Satellite Facility Matt Pecsoc led the students up Panorama Peak to work on avalanche safety, ice axe arrest and crampon use. Students also got a chance to practice glissading, running belays and z-pulleys. Saturday's trip brought out a group of around 30 students, with about half that on Sunday. Pecsoc described the climb as fun, but he had to turn the expedition around.
"We were basically coming up an avalanche shoot, and there were exposed rocks," Pecsoc said. "We practiced our snow pit digging skills after climbing up to find a slab appearing from the new snow." Slabs are layers of snow that are prone to slide in high avalanche areas after new snow adds weight to old layers.sws
Past trips introduced participants to climbing gear training and crevasse travel at stations located around campus. In March the focus of classes will shift to outdoor shelter and First Aid.
The students will be taking another outing in March, this time to the Castner Glacier in the Delta Mountain Range for an overnight trip. "The field exercises are a good way to practice skills taught in the classroom. The number one objective of the course is to have fun and prepare people to go into the mountains and come back safely," said main Instructor and Alpine Club member Stan Justice.
Introduction to Ski Mountaineering is taught every spring as a cooperative effort between UAF and the Alaska Alpine Club. The class can be taken as a one-credit course or just as a fun way to learn mountaineering skills for a $40 fee.
