Avalanche Education
Avalanche education is what prepares you to travel in or near avalanche terrain. Anyone can start it, at any point, with no course or program needed first. Here is how it works, where to start for free, and how to make the courses affordable.
The path most people follow
In the US, recreational avalanche courses follow one framework, set by the American Avalanche Association. AIARE is the most widely taught, and other providers teach the same levels. You can start at the beginning of this path whenever you are ready.
Avalanche awareness
The basics of avalanche hazard, avoiding it, and the gear, in an hour or so: online, or at a free talk.
No prerequisitesAIARE 1
About 24 hours across online lessons, a classroom and days in the field: how to plan a trip, recognize avalanche terrain and make decisions in it as part of a group.
No prerequisitesAvalanche Rescue
One day in the field on finding and digging out a buried partner with a beacon, probe and shovel. Take it before, after or alongside AIARE 1.
No prerequisitesAIARE 2
For people who want to lead trips in more complex terrain. AIARE recommends a season of touring between AIARE 1 and AIARE 2.
After AIARE 1 and RescueAlready have a Level 1? A one-day AIARE 1 Refresher brings the decision-making back up to date.
Alongside avalanche education, not before it
Our programs teach touring
Our on-resort days, Intro to Backcountry and Intro to Ski / Snowboard Mountaineering teach how to move uphill: your setup, skinning, transitions, and traveling as a group. None of them is an avalanche course. Our on-resort days and Intro to Backcountry stay out of avalanche terrain, and the mountaineering course is built to complement formal avalanche training, not replace it.
Avalanche courses teach decisions
Avalanche courses teach how to choose terrain, read conditions and rescue a partner when you travel where avalanches happen. AIARE lists no prerequisites for AIARE 1. What helps most is being comfortable on your gear, because the field days are real days in the backcountry and the course spends its time on snow and terrain, not on learning to skin.
You never need one of our programs to take an avalanche course, and you never need an avalanche course to join one of our programs. Many people do both, in whatever order fits them.
Know before you go
Five steps from Know Before You Go, the avalanche awareness program from the Colorado and Utah avalanche centers, with a 10-minute video to start with.
Get the gear
Everyone in your group carries a beacon, a shovel and a probe, and knows how to use them. Practice before the day you need it.
Get the training
Take an avalanche course. AIARE 1 and Avalanche Rescue are where most people start.
Get the forecast
Read the avalanche forecast for where you are going, every time, and make a plan around it.
Get the picture
Learn the signs of unstable snow, like recent avalanches, cracking and collapsing, and turn around when you see them.
Get out of harm’s way
Expose one person at a time to a slope, and regroup in safe spots out of the path of a slide.
Making a course affordable
Cost keeps a lot of people out of avalanche education. These are the ways we know of to bring it down.
AIARE 1 and Avalanche Rescue, at our rate
We partner with Northeast Mountaineering so more of our community can afford avalanche education. Three courses this winter in the Mt. Washington Valley, by application, with the people with the most financial need first. You do not need to have done an IST program to apply, and IST receives none of the course fees.
Where to start learning, and where to look
Keep practicing
A course is a start, and the skills fade without use. A study of AIARE 1 graduates found that people plan trips and check their gear more after the course, but most practiced rescue only once or twice afterward, and most never timed themselves.
The three things you carry
Before you start
Do I need to do an IST program before an avalanche course?
No. AIARE lists no prerequisites for AIARE 1 or Avalanche Rescue, and our discounted seats are open to anyone who applies. Our programs teach touring; they are not a step you have to take first.
Do I need avalanche education to join an IST program?
No. Our on-resort days and Intro to Backcountry stay out of avalanche terrain, and Intro to Ski / Snowboard Mountaineering is not an avalanche course.
What should I be able to do before AIARE 1?
Nothing formal. The field days are real backcountry days, so being comfortable skinning uphill and skiing or riding down on your setup lets you focus on the avalanche material. If you are new to touring, a touring day first, with us or anyone else, helps.
Which course should I take first?
Start with the free Avalanche Aware course or a Know Before You Go talk, then AIARE 1, with Avalanche Rescue before, after or alongside it.
Does it have to be AIARE?
No. AIARE is the most widely taught, and other providers teach the same levels to the American Avalanche Association’s guidelines. avalanche.org lists them.
Is there help with the cost?
Yes: our seats with Northeast Mountaineering, Northeast Mountaineering’s own scholarship, SheJumps for women, and the scholarships AIARE lists. See Making a course affordable above.
More on uphill skiing and splitboarding
How touring actually works
Ski touring for skiers, splitboarding for snowboarders: how each works, on a resort and in the backcountry, and what you need to start.
Read it →Uphill etiquette on a resort
The habits that keep a resort’s uphill route safe and open, anywhere you tour.
Read it →Uphill policies, by state
Every mountain’s own uphill policy page, organized by state, and the directories that cover the rest of the country.
Read it →
