The Peter Inglis Avalanche Education Fund is back for its second season of Telluride Backcountry Chats. This year we have teamed up with the Telluride Avalanche School to bring avalanche awareness and education to the community. Join us to increase your knowledge and awareness in the backcountry. Check back often as we will be adding more dates soon. We hope you can join us!

Past Events:

Wednesday, November 7 
6:00 PM 
Jagged Edge Mountain Gear 

Avalanche Accidents: The illusion of control and the perils of positive outcomes
with Dale Atkins

Have you ever read the avalanche report of an accident and thought, “What were they thinking?” And maybe added, “I’d never do that.” This presentation and chat will introduce a novel way of thinking about accidents that escapes hindsight and seeks sense-making and interruptions. Traditional avalanche education and accident reviews focus on missed cues, but missed cues are not the problem in accidents with avalanche-trained people. Rather it is a failure by the person to redirect their actions. This presentation will help you avoid being (metaphorically) that reluctant bride or groom caught up in pre-wedding activities who lets momentum carry you along.

Dale Atkins Bio
For more than 30 years Dale has been training and working with avalanche professionals and mountain rescuers around the world. He’s an expert in rescue, avalanche accidents, human factors and prevention with numerous articles, books and films to his credit.

Monday, January 7 
6:15 PM 
Jagged Edge Mountain Gear 

Welcome Back Winter

It’s time to get your head back in the snow game. If you are headed into the backcountry this winter, join us for a little refresher on all the things you’ll want to think about this season. Joining us will be Matt Steen (Snow Safety Director at Telluride Helitrax), Jon Tuckman (Snow Safety Director at Telluride Ski Resort), and Jeff Davis (Avalanche Forecaster with the CAIC). We’ll be covering:

• Snowpack: current hazard, trends, and observations
• CAIC website, observations, and weather
• Partners and decision making
• Terrain: on maps and route finding
• Ski area boundaries: what you need to know
• Backcountry gate etiquette

Monday, January 28 
6:15 PM 
Jagged Edge Mountain Gear 

Putting It All Together: from morning coffee to dropping in + how hazard can change overnight
with Jake Hutchinson

Drop the line or back to bed? Better decision making tools can be the difference between a hero pow day you hit/miss, an epic avalanche incident, or a mellow day meadow skipping low angle pow. This chat will cover how a systematic approach to gathering, prioritizing, and organizing information from your first sip of coffee to the moment of truth, helps remove human bias and make decisions based on evidence rather than desire.  It also helps you remain objective as conditions change from one day to the next.

• Decision making tools
• Gathering, prioritizing, and organizing information
• Evidence-based decision making
• Changing conditions

Monday, February 18
6:15 PM 
Jagged Edge Mountain Gear 

Backcountry Panel Discussion

In this installment of Telluride Backcountry Chats, we’ll be bringing together a diverse panel to answer your questions and talk about their approach to backcountry skiing and decision making. Our panel includes: Himay Palmer, Greg Hope, Ryan Howe, Amy Pertuz, and more!

• Decision making in the backcountry
• Backcountry education (how to continue your education)
• Close calls
• Learning opportunities
• And so much more!

Monday, March 11
6:15 PM 
Jagged Edge Mountain Gear 

Close Calls

This is our final Telluride Backcountry Chat of the season and it is extra compelling. A group of people who have had close calls with avalanches will be presenting their stories. More info coming soon.