Winter is coming. Are you avy aware?

I don’t bring avy gear ice climbing unless I’m skiing there. For the climbing itself having a beacon seems fairly useless. If it rips it’ll be from above and bury both of you.
I have no formal avy training, beyond my own experience. As an anecdote I’ve climbed routes in very sketchy conditions many times and turned around when I observed that it wasn’t safe. I’ve also just gone up stuff and literally touched off slabs one at a time from the side, and felt good about the level of risk. If I couldn’t have popped the slabs so easily it would have been a different story and I would have turned around. 
some of the sketchiest things I’ve seen in the mountains are from people freshly certified in avy 1. It’s not safe out there and if there’s too much doubt in an outcome bailing isn’t lame. 

I have bailed a few times because of snow conditions. more often I have either chosen a different objective or gone Nordic skiing that day. 

Dara wrote:
Do you climb in avalanche terrain?

If so, do you carry a beacon, probe and shovel?

Have you taken an avalanche safety course?

If so, did you feel the course was geared in any way to you as an ice climber?

Do you climb in avalanche terrain? Yes. Probably everyone does whether they know it or not. May not be avalanche conditions at the time though.
If so, do you carry a beacon, probe and shovel? Sometimes
Have you taken an avalanche safety course? Yes
If so, did you feel the course was geared in any way to you as an ice climber? No. But the knowledge applied to everyone. There was some skiing specific knowledge though.

Some very basin questions/info about avalanches that everyone should know:

1. Did it snow recently? Most avalanches take place after recent snowfall.
2. Do you see evidence of recent avalanches around you? Huge red flag that you're in avy conditions and to be very careful.
3. Or you on or under a slope of 34 to 45 degrees? Prime Avy terrain. Or 30-55 may avy in extreme conditions.

If you say yes to the above you're at risk and should probably know more to stay safe if you're going out in those conditions/terrain.

Learning avy awareness is kind of like learning trad climbing IMO. You can learn it on your own. Books, videos, and experience helps. But a good instructor will help you learn a lot quicker and perhaps prevent you from making dumb mistakes. you can have a lot of backcountry experience and never had a problem, but you could also drive a car without a seat belt for years and just be lucky. But you could also take an avy course and think you know more than you really do and take more risk than you really realize. I took a course that was about 5 classroom sessions and 3 field sessions and felt like I still just learned the basics. I learned enough to know when it's dangerous but not enough to judge how dangerous it is and if it's safe enough to push it in sketchy conditions. I've also got a lot of experience and have learned when I think it's safe enough for me to go out.

or you could take a bunch of Avy courses, become an avy instructor and get flushed a bunch of times and or killed.  It almost seems to me that the more you study this stuff the more chances you take.  seems to be too easy to get into the we are pros, we have all the latest gear and techniques lets go have a look thought process... . then powder fever sets in and they end up takeing way more risks than someone like myself with no training but a fair bit of experience who knows that shit is dangerous.  

A safety course is a must, even the smallest of new info you learn is valuable with ice climbing.

made it to 57  without your Must course..... 

I just came back from the Canadian Rockies and made a point of carrying a beacon and gear with me on the approaches. It seems stupid and like overkill, but I am trying to change old habits.

Another failure of this survey is that I should have asked: Where specifically do you climb?  Folks who climb in the Canadian Rockies encounter waaaaay more avalanche terrain than those who climb only in the NE United States (excepting Mount Washington). Likewise, it would be silly to carry around avy gear for a day in the Ouray Ice Park; but go a couple of miles up Camp Bird Mine Road and its a different story--depending on conditions, the risk can be very real. OR....head south to Eureka and you might scare yourself silly sidehilling across a loaded 35 degree slope to get to the Third Gully. Or not--depending on conditions.

Do you actually know whether your ice objective AND the approach are in avy terrain? Do you know how to find out?

In the Canadian Rockies, Parks Canada has a rating system for ice climbs with regard to their exposure to avalanches, the Avalanche Terrain Exposure Scale (ATES). https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/mtn/securiteenmontagne-mountainsafety/avalanche/echelle-ratings Just like anything else, a publication like this won't necessarily prevent avalanche fatalities, but it is yet another source of information and a tool for climbers to evaluate their risk. I wonder how difficult it would be to put together something like this for the US.

Do you climb in avalanche terrain?
Yes, I mostly climb in the Canadian Rockies, or Montana.  But I make my route selection based on the day's forecast.  If it is a danger rating of "considerable" or above then I am not going to climb any routes in challenging or complex terrain.  For example I have wanted to climb Polar Circus for like 4 years but every time I am up there the danger rating is "considerable" in the alpine.  Maybe I will get lucky this year with a more stable snowpack.

Do you carry beacon, probe and shovel?
Not on the climb.  I might on the approach if I am skiing into the climb but it depends on the approach terrain.

Taken a course?
Yes AIARE 1 and signed up for AST 2 in a couple weeks

Course geared to ice climbing?
Nope, definitely geared to backcountry skiing.

Marlin Thorman wrote: I have wanted to climb Polar Circus for like 4 years but every time I am up there the danger rating is "considerable" in the alpine.  Maybe I will get lucky this year with a more stable snowpack.

Do you carry beacon, probe and shovel?
Not on the climb.  I might on the approach if I am skiing into the climb but it depends on the approach terrain.

I'd recommend carrying the gear on the climb as well. If only to help with body recovery.