Our AIARE 1 Course is designed for people with previous backcountry skiing experience who want to be able to prepare and plan for travel in Avalanche Terrain. This is not an introduction to backcountry skiing skills, so be sure you are familiar with your gear, layering system, and know how to ski in often difficult, ungroomed snow. Off-piste skiing experience is an often overlooked critical skill is this course. Be ready for what Mother Nature can throw at us!
Our 3 day introduction to avalanche hazard and management is expected to give you a basic understanding of avalanches, learn to apply effective companion rescue and provide a framework for decision making and risk management in avalanche terrain. This course also focuses on gathering the appropriate information and developing strategies to be able to plan and prepare for a tour in and around avalanche terrain.
Our course this season will start on day 1 with a few hours in the classroom covering more academic topics that are difficult to teach in the field. In the afternoon, we’ll head out to an outdoor location to practice and train on companion rescue. Day 2 will be completely outdoors, and will focus on a observations tour, where we will practice gathering snowpack and weather information in order to plan our tour on day 3. On day 3, you will have the opportunity to plan and execute a ski tour, and work towards effective group communication skills and building consensus. We usually go where the snow is going to best, so be prepared to be flexible.
Prior to the course, you will be sent an extensive online curriculum to go through. This will take approximately 4-6 hours to complete and it will be critical to finish this online component prior to the start of the course.
Student Prerequisites
Students should :
- Have at least one season of backcountry touring experience
Students must :
- Have previous experience using climbing skins and backcountry style bindings
- Have previous experience skiing off piste or ungroomed conditions
- Have previous experience skiing with a pack
- Be able to travel efficiently in avalanche terrain on skis, or splitboard
- Be prepared for both inside and outside coursework
Course Locations
Bend Location
January 2-4, 2024 FULL
January 7-9, 2024 FULL
January 15-17, 2024 FULL
January 16-18, 2024 FULL
February 20-22, 2024 FULL
February 25-27, 2024 FULL
February 28-March 1, 2024 FULL
March 3-5, 2024 FULL
Mount Hood Location
January 7-9, 2024
January 10-12, 2024