Surrounded by huge peaks in the heart of Chile and the Central 
Cordillera is a ski area with a lot of history. This ski area is La Parva. With its more fruitful history also comes the history of avalanche related deaths of skiers in the surrounding backcountry (Santa Teresa) . La Parva was founded in 1952 and has a continuing tradition of breeding strong skiers who often leave its boundaries for the surrounding Andean faces. This was one of the reasons our project came there. We had the opportunity to reach over 20 employees in two class sessions.
Employee’s varied from Patrollers, most already with some degree of knowledge, to instructors, for whom the subject of backcountry safety is relatively new. We started in the classroom with an indoor presentation on avalanche safety. The subjects we covered included terrain choices, weather and its effects on avalanches, and partner rescue.
After a lunch break, we met at the base of the alpha chair ready to take what they had learnt and put it into action in the field. This was the time to actually implement the tests, and perform partner rescue. The group was focused on the exercises at hand while asking questions that could only come up in the actual environment.
As we went through burial scenarios it became clear to me how this project is needed in the area. Many of the students learned how to use their beacons for the first time even though they had travelled in the backcountry on several occasions.
Overall even though Chile was playing the world champions (Spain) in football (one of the two days) interest was high. In the days following the classes we received positive feedback from many of the students, as well as requests for further classes in the area.