[pct-l] The BAMM! class for 2018

[ned at mountaineducation.org]

The BAMM! class for 2018

[Bad-Ass MountainMan!]

 

 

This all began because one man wanted to help hikers attend a snow skills
class!

A few days back, Mountain Education received an unsolicited donation of $150
with a note attached, "Please let this donation pay for a PCT hiker to
attend your class." 

 

The class was already in existence for early season PCT & JMT thru hikers,
so it just needed to be restructured to make this happen!

 

I'm telling you guys by email because you may have Sierra experiences in
your past where you found out the hard way about slippery snow, losing the
trail under snow, falling on snow, and crossing some pretty crazy creeks
during June and July. If, by offering this class, we can help just one
hiker, be a little wiser, be a little safer out there, then we feel the
mission was "completed." 

 

If you know anyone hitting the trail "early" this year, who doesn't know
what he's going to be facing, you can sponsor him with a ticket to attend
the class.

If you want to help a hiker attend this safety class, you can donate to the
mission. 

Both are tax deductible!

 

 

The BAMM! class:

*	Is a 10-hour, 1-day wilderness knowledge and skills course, 
*	taught right on the Pacific Crest Trail just south of the JMT,
*	four miles in from the Cottonwood Pass trailhead, 
*	accessed by the Horseshoe Meadows Road out of Lone Pine, California.
*	Is for all backpackers wanting to maximize their personal safety by
gaining wilderness wisdom and learning steep snow and creek crossing skills.
*	Register yourself, sponsor a hiker, or donate for needy hikers to
attend!

Knowledge and Skills to include:

1.       Steep snow ascent, descent, and traverse skills with Whippet, Ice
axe, microspikes, or hiking crampons (to include glissading,
boot-skiing/skating, heel-plunge, self-belay, and self-arrest)

2.       Snow types, bonds, daily condition awareness, and travel logistics

3.       Over-snow Navigation principles (how to read a topo map and GPS)

4.       Trail Sign Identification & Discovery

5.       Safe Route Selection principles

6.       Avalanche Awareness & Avoidance

7.       Identifying safe creek crossing locations

8.       Safe creek crossing methods and logistics

9.       Hydrology: know what's coming against you

10.   Watching the weather: How to know when a storm is coming your way

11.   Wilderness Medical Emergencies, sign & symptoms, and treatment

12.   Emergency Communications for SAR Rescue

13.   PCT/JMT trail details ahead: Discussion of passes and creeks to the
north

 

 

All the course details are at
<http://mountaineducation.org/snow-advanced-clinics/>
http://mountaineducation.org/snow-advanced-clinics/ 

 

 

Here's how this works:  

1.	200 tickets, or "seats" in the class, will be available for direct
purchase or via donations to be given away to waiting applicants on a
"first-come, first-served" basis.

 

2.	Ticket priority: 

a.	First, direct to hikers applying to attend and intending to buy
their own ticket.
b.	Second, direct to sponsors buying for a specific hiker.
c.	Third, via donor's contributions and allocated to waiting hikers per
"1)," above.

 

3.	Tickets do not go on sale until we have 200 confirmed, either,

a.	Course Applications:

i.	Hikers intending to buy their own tickets.
ii.	Hikers who have a sponsor buying a ticket for them.
iii.	Hikers intending to wait for a chance at the remaining donated
tickets.

b.	Pledge to Donate emails: 

i.	From sponsors for a specific hiker.
ii.	From donor's contributions into a pool to provide tickets.

1.	Anyone can donate to help hikers attend class. 
2.	Increments of $150 provide a ticket per "1)," above.

c.	If we do not receive sufficient interest to provide for 200 tickets,
the BAMM! class will be cancelled, all parties will be notified directly,
and sales will not proceed.

 

4.	Deadline for Applications and Pledges:

a.	March 18, 2018
b.	Mountain Education, Inc. has to confirm the class with the USFS by
March 19, 2018.

 

5.	Once we have received sufficient applications or emails providing
for the sale or give-away of 200 tickets, the announcement will be made, and
ticket sales and donations will begin in the priority listed above.

a.	All tickets not allocated directly to anyone in specific become
available to waiting hikers on a "first-come, first-served" basis.

 

6.	Donations: 

a.	Are tax deductible, if for the charity or another person's use and
not your own.

i.	Mountain Education, Inc is an IRS 501(c)(3) public charity, ID #
47-1263156

b.	Accomplished

i.	First, by Pledge to Donate email stating amount of pledge or for
whom.
ii.	Second, only after announcement to proceed. Donate or pay nothing
now.
iii.	Third, via Mountain Education's PayPal button under the website's
Donation & Tuition tab.

 

7.	What to do:

a.	Fill out a Course Application at
<http://mountaineducation.org/academics/application/>
http://mountaineducation.org/academics/application/ 

i.	Course name is: The BAMM! class.
ii.	Course date is when you expect to arrive there.
iii.	Note somewhere in the application:

1.	your PCT start date.
2.	who is paying for your class, yourself, a known donor, or that you
are waiting for a donated ticket on a "first-come, first-served" basis.

iv.	Pay nothing at this point
v.	Wait for the 200-ticket donation announcement.
vi.	Expect confirmation and direction emails along the way.

b.	Send in a Pledge to Donate email to
<mailto:info at mountaineducation.org> info at mountaineducation.org 

i.	State where your donation is to go

1.	For a specific hiker by name (who has already submitted a course
application)
2.	Toward providing a ticket for a needy hiker.

ii.	State how much you are pledging to donate
iii.	Pay nothing at this point
iv.	Wait for the 200-ticket donation announcement.
v.	Expect confirmation and direction emails along the way.

Sure, we all learned how to backpack "the hard way," and yes, we made it
through alright, but that was a different generation with a little more
"common sense." This generation simply goes and hopes to figure it out along
the way without any experience to draw upon. 

 

Two hikers died in two separate creek crossings last year. They didn't know
what they were doing. They didn't even have to cross the creek! They tried
to because the trail on the map said to. The didn't see that it re-crossed
higher up.

 

That's why this wilderness safety school is working so hard to get the
safety word out!

 

Think about it, will you?

 

 

Ned Tibbits, Director

Mountain Education, Inc.

ned at mountaineducation.org <mailto:ned at mountaineducation.org>