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