2023-03-25 - AST 2 - great week of splitboarding!
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A beautiful week of splitboarding with 4 days of an AST2 avy course (a more intermediate level course than the AST1 I previously took) and 1 day taking on a classic Blackcomb backcountry couloir called DOA (for “down, over, around”, not “dead on arrival” like I initially thought) (Note: couloir is just like a narrow gully on a mountain - like a lil chute with rock on both sides)
First off, riding DOA since that’s what all of these pics are. Our instructor was out sick for one of the days of the AST2 course, so we decided to go out and do something on our own. Avy conditions were super stable and it was a beautiful sunny day, so we felt confident doing a bigger line. It’s a short boot pack or skin up to the couloir, then you drop in and ride back down into the resort. 1/6 shows a quick shot of what the couloir looks like inside. 2/6 is a pic I shamelessly took off the internet to show what it looks like from further down the mountain. 3/6 and 4/6 are what I look like riding absolute garbage variable icy crusty conditions on a 40+ degree pitch (videos didn’t trim properly so are kinda long and I can’t edit them and don’t feel like reposting). 5/6 is the view looking down into the couloir. 6/6 is the great view off the other side at the top since you’re basically near the top of blackcomb peak.
The AST2 was awesome overall as well. We learned more about making snow observations, managing travel in avalanche terrain, and got to explore a bit further into the blackcomb backcountry with a few days of great visibility and low avy danger. We also rode quite the mix of variable conditions with a few decent fresh pow runs in there. Overall a great course with very knowledgeable instructors.
