Chinook's Edge students learn avalanche safety and winter survival skills in the mountains

Cremona School, Bowden Grandview School and Spruce View School recently teamed up to send 32 students into the mountains to learn more about winter travel. The students learned about winter safety including avalanche preparedness. 

“I was excited about the avalanche part of the course, especially,” says Charlotte R., a Grade 12 student from Cremona School. “I also really enjoyed trying ski-trekking, and getting to ski downhill and cross-country.” 

“It’s a good idea to learn about the mountains and the dangers there,” says Charlotte, “and I appreciate that the school offers this course. That makes it super accessible to students.” 

The course that Charlotte and her peers participated in was Winter Travel, which was offered at the Grade 10 or Grade 11 level simultaneously. Students who completed Winter Travel 15 or 25 earned 10 credits. They completed course work in their own schools throughout the semester, and then spent three days in the mountains at a facility located in Bow Valley Provincial Park in the Kananaskis.

The course is run by Canadian Rockies Public Schools (CRPS), and supported in Chinook’s Edge schools by a Chinook’s Edge teacher. Cremona School has had students participating for about 10 years. Bowden and Spruce View joined more recently. 

CRPS owns the overnight facility that students stay in, and employs the staff who run the overnight portion of the program. Canadian Rockies also provides a $100 per student discount to Chinook’s Edge School division students.

Peter Prescesky is the Coordinator of the CRPS team and runs the facility. He says, “Our goal is to help students make good decisions. We hope that with knowledge of good practices, students will have the courage to stand up and say ‘no’ if they need to, because they understand when a situation could be unsafe.”

Prescesky says in the winter travel program students learn about survival fires and shelters, navigation including with and without GPS and in the winter, and preparedness and planning before travelling in the mountains. During the day, students are out experiencing avalanche training, snowshoeing or skiing. In the evenings they receive presentations and learn about safety. 

For avalanche training, Prescesky says students learn to “dig snow pits and perform column tests. This enables them to see where the weak spots are in the snow.” Students who complete the program leave with an AST-1, a federally recognized avalanche safety certification, that could be part of a future career qualification. 

Thatcher U., a Grade 12 student from Spruce View School took Winter Travel 25, after completing Winter Travel 15. “I wanted to expand my knowledge in Search and Rescue Fields as that has always been interesting to me,” he says. “This course allows students to gain valuable knowledge and experience. The experiences are enjoyable and lessons are easy to understand. It also allows students to possibly experience new things that they may or may not like.” 

Josh Gette is a teacher at Cremona School. This was his first year working with students in the Winter Travel course. “It’s been a pretty interesting thing to be a part of and it was cool seeing it for the first time,” says Gette. “The students gained some practical skills. From snowshoeing to orienteering their way out of a location without a trail, or first aid and avalanche training, it’s been good information and skill development.” 

“This was an opportunity some students had never had before. Some were beginner skiers coming into this and they got to try it out,” says Gette.

Gette says he especially appreciated the safety messages directed to students. “It was great to hear from a professional skier who can do backflips [and is admired by the students] saying he would choose to avoid skiing in out of bounds areas.” 

“The students did a lot in the three days they were in the mountains. They came home tired,” says Gette.

When CRPS started the program more than a decade ago, it had 30 students attend. Now the facility welcomes more than 3,900 students annually. CRPS also runs a summer travel program from the same facility.