Snow Craft II - How To Get Yourself Out of a Crevasse

I got to come in to town today for the Snow Craft II course, which consisted of some basic mountaineering techniques such as walking on ropes, traversing steep or snow covered slopes, stopping falls, and getting yourself out of a crevasse, if you happen to fall in one. We started out inside learning some knots, how to tie in to the rope and your harness, and how to ascend a rope using Prusik knots. We then went outside to get some hands on experience in the snow. We first tied in to the rope in groups of 4 then belayed each other across an "unknown" area of snow that could possibly contain a crevasse. Of course we didn't actually do this. The area we were at was known to not have any crevasses, but use your imagination. We learned how to kick step so that your uphill leg doesn't get tired from doing all the work, and it leaves a good platform for the person behind you to follow. Then the fun part. We got to play in the snow. We learned how to stop ourselves in case we ever started sliding down a slope. We went down on or fronts, our back, head first, feet first, and the whole goal is to get on you stomach with your head uphill so you can kick your feet into the snow and stop yourself. But to us it was, just sledding without the sled (see video). That was about it, but it sure beat Snow Craft I (aka Happy Camper).