CSAC Avalanche Center Update Nov 15 1999 Auction I closes 11/18, Auction II begins then New Educational resource - quiz yourself New CSAC Canada page Bulletins beginning Watch for ... Our second annual auction was set to end Nov 18 and all items currently posted will close at some time on that date. This is the week to make bids- many items are still great deals! It's fun and it helps support our work. Since we have continued to receive new items we will run a "second phase" this year, watch for these items starting Nov 18. We have been working on the Education Center lately. Our newest resource is a "quiz yourself" section. There are currently 3 short (5-7) multiple choice quizes to try out, more will follow. We invite and welcome feedback on the questions, answers, useability, etc. Submissions of questions or quizes are also encouraged. (This has always been a grassroots effort and your participation will help!) This quiz script has been on the back burner for at least year but with some new software tools we suddenly found it much easier to work with than before. Another new development this season is a section for CSAC Canada. Last year we obtained charity status from Revenue Canada, aside from that we hold in the US. Our Canadian director, working closely with our other board members in Oregon and California, finally got the all the paperwork through the system. We now have a "homepage" for CSAC Canada, which is an expanded version of what used to be the conditions page. This new section will continue to expand over the coming season. Some avalanche bulletins have begun, ar have at least issued a preliminary early season statement. The CAIC in Colorado (a state agency) is putting out a daily advisory now, despite what sounds like a lack of snow so far. The Sun Valley Avalanche Center (US Forest Service) has issued a first advisory, as has the Forest Service in New Hampshire for the Mt Washington area. These early advisories have allowed us to check our scripts and make a few improvements and when the snow does fall we they will be posted and mailed with the reliability we have worked hard to maintain for five seasons now. All we need now is the snow! Things in progress include some avalanche tutorials, also on the back burner for a couple years. Each tutorial will have a quiz to go with it. We began work on the Professional Resources section but so far it has been limited to some reorganization and some page layout changes. New content with improved organization is on the way. We continue to work on the glossary - with over 250 pages this is an ongoing project. Check out the site, especially the educational resources. Be prepared when the snow does arrive! Jim