The French Association for the Study of Snow and Avalanches (ANENA) is organising an avalanche security day on Saturday the 27th of November. The event starts promptly at 8h45 and is dedicated to snow and especially avalanche risks and gives all the information, or nearly, that traveller needs to be aware of the dangers during a trip in the back-country.
The idea behind the day, which finishes at 17h30, is to give more information than an evening seminar but to be shorter than a training course which would block a whole weekend. Some of the leading French and Swiss experts will be present including Robert Bolognesi director of Météorisk, Jean-Paul Zuanon of the French Alpine Club who has contributed many articles on the subject of snow and avalanches, Mountain Guide and Trainer Dominique Stumpert, François Sivardière, director of the ANENA, Jean-François Myon who is responsible for preparing the avalanche bulletins issued by Météo France and Fred Jarry who is responsible for studies and information for the ANENA.
The day is divided into four sessions of 90 minutes with long question and answer sessions. The themes cover Snow and Avalanches, Human Factors, Planning and Search and Rescue. The day costs a very reasonable 15 Euros which includes the two Anena publications: Arva Mode d’Emploi and Tout Savoir sur la neige et les avalanches. We’ll be reviewing the second of these shortly.
The day is open to everyone from ski tourers and snow shoers to riders. The event will be held in the main lecture hall of the l’École Supérieure de Commerce WESFORD, 21 bis Avenue Félix Viallet. Grenoble. Providing you are happy with French this sounds like an excellent plan to kick off the season.