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Kent Swanson Memorial Avalanche Course:
This course is designed as an intensive 2.5-day avalanche refresher course
presented bi-annually on Oregon’s Mount Hood. The course is geared toward
mountain rescue volunteers, ski patrollers, guides, and others that support the
mountain rescue community. It is intended as both an avalanche skills refresher
and a forum for presenting new developments in avalanche science. The course is
taught by the best avalanche professionals in North America and includes both
theory presented in classroom sessions and hands-on practice on the mountain.
Previous course instructors include:
- Clair Israelson – Former Exec. Director, Canadian Avalanche Assoc
- Bruce Jamieson - Author & Professor, Univ. of Calgary
- Chris Stethem - Avalanche Consultant & CAA Founding Director
- Ian McCammon - Avalanche Researcher, Amer Aval Assoc
- Phil Hein – Avalanche Consultant and CAA Founding Director
- Ian Tomm – Current Exec. Director, Canadian Avalanche Assoc
- Grant Stathem – Avalanche Safety Specialist, Parks Canada
During the weekend of January 27 – January 29, 2012, Portland Mountain Rescue will be sponsoring the eighth Kent P. Swanson Jr. Memorial Avalanche Course. The lead instructor for this course will be Colin Zacharias, current Technical Director for AAA. Colin Zacharias is a certified international mountain and ski guide (IFMGA) who guides in Canada, USA, New Zealand, Europe and other countries. He is an instructor on guide training programs for the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides and the American Mountain Guides Association. He is a course leader on Canadian Avalanche Association Level 2 Industry Training Programs and a Level 3 Course Leader for AAA. Colin has been in the avalanche industry since 1980 and has worked in avalanche control at ski areas and for British Colombia Highways on the Coast Range. He was an avalanche forecaster for the 1988 Winter Olympics and has consulted for various projects and organizations including Heli-cat Canada, Ruby Mt. Heli-skiing. Colin has assisted with curriculum development with the Canadian Avalanche Association and AIARE. He is a former technical director for the ACMG and current member of the ACMG Technical Committee. He is has been the technical director for AAA since 2003 and is a professional member of the Canadian Avalanche Association. Like previous lead instructors for this course, Colin is among the best in the business.
To read published articles about the Kent Swanson Jr. Memorial Avalanche
course, click <HERE>
(4MB pdf file).
Kent Swanson, Jr. Memorial Fund:
Organized and administered by Kent, Sr. and Trish Swanson, this fund honors the
memory of their son and generously supports PMR mountain rescue and safety
courses, as well as education events.
To date, the Memorial Fund has helped fund the following:
 Five
(5) Avalanche Courses taught by world class instructors.
One (1) Rigging for Rescue Course
Multiple scholarships for PMR members to attend avalanche courses that are
unavailable locally
The Swanson family also generously sponsors a Biology
Scholarship at Lewis and Clark college. To read more about The Kent
Swanson, Jr. Biology Scholarship and watch a tribute to Kent
Swanson, Jr. Please go to this link:
http://www.lclark.edu/college/departments/biology/opportunities/kent_swanson.
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