Why Take an Avalanche Course?
Whats the point?
As winter approaches and the mountains become blanketed in fresh snow, many skiers and snowboarders find themselves drawn to the allure of backcountry. It is the perfect way to blend a passion for hiking and the outdoors, with the thrill of untouched powder and stunning alpine landscapes. However, with this access there are very real inherent risks that come with backcountry travel—chief among them is avalanche danger. The interesting part about it, is we can avoid them. Understanding which terrain to ski on which day is the key to accessing the backcountry safely. This is where an avalanche course comes into play. There are many reasons to invest time and resources into an avalanche education program, below I will list just a few of them.
Avalanche Instructor explaining layering and the structure of the snowpack.
1. Understanding Avalanche Mechanics
The primary benefit of an avalanche course is acquiring a solid understanding of how and where avalanches occur. Your instructor will teach you about the factors that contribute to avalanche risk, including snowpack stability, weather conditions, terrain features, and human behavior. This foundational knowledge empowers you to evaluate conditions and make informed decisions before you set out into potentially hazardous areas.
2. Learning to Recognize Signs of Instability
Avalanche courses typically cover the various signs that indicate unstable snow conditions. Students learn to identify red flags, such as recent avalanches in the area, cracking or collapsing snow, and temperature fluctuations. Recognizing these signs, knowing what you are looking for and turning around or changing your plan appropriately is a fundamental part of our avalanche program.
3. Practical Skills and Rescue Techniques
One of the most critical components of avalanche education is learning how to respond in the event of an avalanche. Courses will include hands-on training for proper use of avalanche rescue equipment such as beacons, shovels, and probes. Students practice locating and rescuing buried individuals, and honing skills that can save lives in an emergency. Knowing how to react quickly and efficiently can drastically improve the chances of survival for someone caught in an avalanche.
4. Trip Planning
Understanding how to navigate in the backcountry safely is a key component of our courses. There are so many tools available to us, you will learn how to utilize them. Having a solid tour plan not only helps you to limit your exposure to the avalanche problem, but also will help you in finding the best snow quality for skiing and riding. We spend time utilizing maps, technology and our local avalanche center in order to understand where we will encounter an avalanche problem and where we will find high quality snow.
5. Building a Safety-Conscious Community
An avalanche course also facilitates connections with fellow backcountry riders who share a passion for safety in the backcountry. Some of my greatest ski partners I found through my avalanche education. During the course we discuss human factors and how these contribute to most avalanche incidents. Having partners who you know prioritize safety and have invested in their avalanche education is a comforting feeling. I always feel much better traveling in the backcountry with partners that I know have the skillset to save me if everything goes wrong.
6. Understanding the snowpack
During your avalanche course you will dig down in the snow and analyze the different layers of the snowpack. You will perform stability tests and understand what a right side up and upside down snowpack looks like. This will allow you to further build on the avalanche mechanics. Understanding a snowpack structure is a key principle in understanding how avalanches happen.
7. Confidence in Your Abilities
After completing an avalanche course, you will feel a newfound sense of security while traveling in the backcountry. The first avalanche course you take will give you the skillset to travel in the backcountry safely anytime there is enough snow on the ground. We do this by avoiding the avalanche problem. Once you decide to engage with the problem and you want to start riding more aggressive lines or traveling to areas where there is no avalanche forecast. That is where the avalanche level 2 courses come into play. We recommend taking at least 1 season between your level 1 and level 2 avalanche courses. This allows you to apply the level 1 curriculum prior to the level 2 curriculum.
8. Lifelong Learning
With avalanche conditions constantly evolving, continuous learning is essential for safe backcountry travel. An avalanche course can be the starting point for further education, prompting you to stay updated on best practices, recent developments in snow science, and advances in rescue technology. I have the highest level avalanche and mountain guiding certification in the country and I teach a lot of avalanche courses. However, I am always still seeking out new learning opportunities. I am always brushing up on my rescue and my avalanche basics. This is a lifelong process and the moment you think you know it all, is when the snow will surprise you.
When Should I take an Avalanche Course?
The first step to entering the backcountry is having a solid foundation of downhill skiing. This only happens in the resort. One should be comfortably able to ski black diamonds before thinking about backcountry skiing. The next thing is to get familiar with your gear. You do not want to be using your gear for the first time while trying to process all the information from your course. Once you have those things, it is a great time to get into an avalanche course.
If you have never backcountry skied before a great option is to take our Intro to Backcountry + AIARE 1 Course.
Why Valhalla Mountain Guides?
There are a ton of avalanche providers in the Tahoe and Mammoth Lakes areas. We at Valhalla take avalanche education very seriously. Our instructors are hand selected mountain guides with extensive real world experience managing avalanche terrain. Our guides all work as mountain guides as well as AIARE instructors. Truly what makes an avalanche course worth it is the instructor teaching it. We understand this. Our instructors will tailor the course to your learning style and they are passionate about your success and well being in your backcountry career.
We offer AIARE Avalanche Level 1, AIARE Rescue, and AIARE Avalanche Level 2 Courses in Mammoth Lakes, and Lake Tahoe.
