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AIARE L1 - NoCo- 2027

Avalanche Education Course

AIARE L1

Special Location: Rocky Mountain National Park

Contacts

Ashley Kramer
Ashley Kramer
Leader

This 3-day course designed to give you a proven approach in planning, executing and evaluating your backcountry ski, snowshoe, mountaineering and other snow adventures involving avalanche terrain.  You will learn about and practice the AIARE Decision Making Process in managing your risk in avalanche terrain. Topics include building trip catalogs, tracking the season, observing and understanding the changes in the snowpack, recognizing avalanche terrain and travel options, improving your situational awareness while in the field, and evaluating the day's decisions when finished.  Tools and resources such as noaa.gov, mountain-forecast.com the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, (CAIC), Snotel, GAIA, Caltopo -the list is long - will become part of your toolbox as you plan and execute your trips. If you are a BC skier, a winter and snow mountaineer, snowshoer, cross-country tourer traveling in avalanche terrain, this course will be a benefit to you.

Who Should Take this Course AIARE L1 is for anyone, regardless of their mode of travel - skis, snowshoes, split-board - who wants to recreate near or in avalanche terrain. There are no pre-requisites for this course.  

Course Requirements: 

  • Online pre-course review
  • 4 hour in-person classroom session
  • Two 8-hour field days (8am-4pm) 

  • All participants will receive an AIARE Certificate of Completion, the AIARE Field Book and student manual.

Cancellations & Rescheduling Participants should understand and appreciate that these courses are held during the winter season where poor weather and driving conditions may require cancellation or rescheduling of this course. Please refer to the CMC's cancellation policy (see link above) prior to enrolling in the course. While this policy provides our primary guidance for such contingencies, the course leadership will attempt to accommodate enrollee's completion of the course during the current season based on class and instructor availability.

Badges you will earn:

Course Requirements

This course has no scheduled activities.

Roster
Required Equipment
  • Bundle up folks! Field days will commence even during very cold and snowy weather. In Colorado that means layers and back-ups. Hand and toe warmers. Extra gloves are a good idea. Make sure your boots fit!!
  • Helmet for skiers and split boarders
  • Ski goggles and sunglasses.
  • Approved Modes of Travel: AT Skis, Tele skis, split boards, snowshoes.
  • Food/Drink for the day, consider hot drink, water, energy snacks, sandwiches, soup.
  • Sunblock, personal med kit, your normal repair kit suitable for your gear 
  • Think 10 essentials to keep you alive in the cold Colorado winter.  We'll cover it and answer questions in the zoom lectures.

Required Avalanche Gear: Transceiver, Probe, Shovel - The Club has Transceiver/Probe/Shovel kits available for loan to those students who do not possess these items.  If you do not presently own the gear, you may hold off on purchasing it, especially if you have not made any decisions about the extent of your backcountry winter forays, whichever winter discipline you are contemplating pursuing.

Course Materials

You must register for this course to see course materials.