Avalanche Level 1

Format: 

Two evening online classroom sessions and two full-day field components

Student-to-instructor field ratio: 4 to 1

Maximum class size: 12 participants

Tuesday 1/14/2025 & Thursday 1/16/2025 | Online Classroom Session | 6 – 9 PM MT

Saturday 1/18/2025 & Sunday 1/19/2025 | Lolo Pass backcountry | 8 AM – 5 PM MT

Overview:

The Avalanche Level 1 curriculum is designed for current and aspiring backcountry travelers. The course focuses on developing a solid foundation in avalanche knowledge and protocols for safe backcountry travel. Following American Avalanche Association (A3) guidelines, educators cover systematic approaches for gathering, sorting, and prioritizing information to make informed decisions in the backcountry.

This course is taught by A3 Pro Educators and delivered within a hybrid format that includes two online evening classroom sessions and two full days traveling in the backcountry within a 4-to-1 student-to-instructor ratio. Forty percent of the course is classroom-based, and sixty percent is field-based. The Level 1 course curriculum focuses on the following learning objectives:

• Basic avalanche terminology
• Recognizing avalanche terrain
• Travel procedures in avalanche terrain
• Formation of the mountain snowpack
• How weather changes the snowpack
• Human factors and how they can influence decision-making
• Interpreting the avalanche forecast and advisory
• Tour planning
• Avalanche transceiver use and rescue skills
• Field observations of terrain, snowpack, and weather
• Use and interpretation of stability tests
• Prioritizing information, working as a team, and minimizing possible human factor traps
• Next steps

Course includes:

• Professional instruction
• Course workbooks
• Online classroom and field instruction
• Lift tickets for courses operating out of a ski area

Participants provide:

• Transportation to and from the field component
• Personal gear
• Avalanche rescue gear
• Food & water

Registration: