Safety Programs, Rocky Mountains

Publication Year: 1949.

Rocky Mountains. Holding indoctrination in safety to be “of prime importance,” the Colorado Mountain Club in 1948 repeated its “technical climbing school” (three evening lectures with a maximum attendance of 48 and three field trips with 38 in attendance) and continued the work of instruction, in so far as possible, on all climbing trips. In May 1949 a course of four weekly lectures, to be followed by week end and summer trips, drew a regular attendance of 80. The club has also (1) worked out a classification of scheduled trips and of intending participants; (2) published in Trail and Timberline a series of sketches, with running commentary, under the title “This Could Happen to You”; (3) held classes in first aid, including winter and mountain first aid, under the direction of a certified Red Cross instructor who is also a member of the club; (4) run qualification tests for skiers wishing to go on ski climbs; and (5) sponsored, jointly with the Red Cross, the National Ski Patrol System and the Southern Rocky Mountain Ski Association, two programs on avalanches and winter safety. This spring André Roch spoke to a group of members on the subject of avalanches.

The Kachinas, of Phoenix, Arizona, are ideally situated to attract young members and teach them to climb safely, since they were originally associated with the Boy Scouts. Not even the best of safety programs, however, can eliminate all possibility of human error. An accident involving a Kachina is summarized below.