[pct-l] ice axe instruction

[Catherine Worth]

Hi all!

Anybody know of any good, affordable ice-axe instruction in California? 

I’m a class of 2007 pct attempter, and not much of a snow person.  I keep reading that you shouldn’t bother carrying an ice axe unless you really know how to use it, so I’d like to find some instruction … Thus far my web searches have come up with multi-day winter mountaineering trips that are far out of my budget. I’d rather go to a one-day class that specifically teaches you how to self-arrest. Does such a thing exist in Northern/Central California?

Or, assuming I depart from KM around the sacred date of June 15, is it possible I could get away without carrying one at all? Would that be dangerous?

(Secretly I’m hoping California is about to be struck by a freak heatwave, so by the time I get to the Sierras I can happily trek over cute little snow patches, maybe constructing a few snowhikers along the way … But I know this is wishful thinking – not to mention unhealthy for the state’s reservoirs and aggies, sigh.)

Anyway, any advice in this vein would be great.
Thanks,
Katie