Joe Stock from the Alaska Guide Collective in Anchorage came down to Kodiak for 4 days of avalanche and ropes training with KISAR. Joe gave a public avalanche safety and awareness seminar at the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge visitor’s center on Thursday. He then spent Friday at the Kodiak High School speaking with students about avalanche safety and awareness. Over the weekend Joe led KISAR in a rope rescue rigging training first at the end of Monashka Bay Road on Saturday, and then on Pyramid Mountain on Sunday. Skills covered were avalanche transceiver use, knots and safe anchor systems, lowering a rescue litter (basket) and attendant on a main line with a secondary safety belay backup, and then raising the litter, attendant, and a patient back up the slope via a “Z hoist” with a 3:1 mechanical advantage. Similar topics were covered in inclement weather on Pyramid Mountain and also included setting snow picket anchors and equalizing them.
