Avalanche Level 2 + Avalanche Rescue

Format:

Curriculum: Avalanche Level 2 and Avalanche Rescue | 32 hours of instruction

Sections: Two (2) evening classroom components | Three (3) full-day field components

Student-to-instructor ratio 4:1

Maximum class size: 8 students

Date | Location: 

Classroom Component: Monday 1/20/25 & Wednesday 1/22/2025 | Virtual Classroom Sessions 6 – 9 PM MT 

Field Component: Friday 1/24/25, Saturday 1/25/25, Sunday 1/26/25

Field Location: Rattlesnake Wilderness, accessed from Montana Snowbowl | 8 AM – 5 PM MT 

Avalanche Level 2 + Avalanche Rescue:

American Avalanche Association (A3) Pro Educators enhance participants’ snow and avalanche expertise by delivering Avalanche Level 2 and Avalanche Rescue course components, adhering to A3 curriculum guidelines. Educators offer comprehensive on-snow training, emphasizing the nuanced understanding of snow metamorphism and its practical application in navigating complex backcountry terrain. Participants will learn to interpret seasonal snowpack histories and identify and understand avalanche problems.

Designed for backcountry recreationists who have completed Avalanche Level 1 training and have experience in backcountry settings, this course provides a valuable platform for expanding their knowledge. The course structure encompasses 40% online classroom instruction and 60% field-based training. Activities involve navigating backcountry environments in avalanche terrain.

This course focuses on the following:

• Tracking and analyzing seasonal snowpack history
• Defining avalanche problem characteristics 
• Weather history, avalanche problems, and stability assessment
• Formation of persistent weak layers such as facets, depth hoar, and surface hoar
• Snow metamorphism
• Avalanche terrain: Large and small-scale features
• Group management in challenging and complex terrain
• Stability tests: Incorporating strength, structure, and propagation potential
• Introduction to SWAG documentation
• Making targeted field observations
• Tour planning
• Rescue skills
• Use of backcountry protocols and systems for sorting and prioritizing information
• Identifying human factor traps and solutions

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 each field section
• Personal gear
• Avalanche rescue gear
• Food & water

Prerequisites:

• Avalanche Level 1
• A minimum of one (1) winter season applying Avalanche Level 1 learning outcomes in the backcountry.
• Participants must be prepared and fit enough to travel during daylight hours on touring skis or splitboards in backcountry terrain in winter conditions for three consecutive days.
• This course includes an Avalanche Rescue component and is, therefore, NOT required as a prerequisite. 

Recommended Reading:

• Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain, Bruce Tremper
• Snow, Weather, and Avalanches: Observational Guidelines for Avalanche Programs in the United States (SWAG)

Course Registration: