What makes The AIARE 1 Rescue better than an AIARE 1? 

This program is two courses in one, where the sum is greater than its parts.  The AIARE 1 Rescue is our one-of-a-kind Avalanche Rescue course coupled with a more in-depth and involved AIARE 1 program. 

How does the AIARE 1 portion of the AIARE 1 Rescue provide a better experience than a normal AIARE 1?  This is simple: normal AIARE 1 avalanche courses devote a significant amount of time to avalanche rescue, which is realistically an introduction to avalanche rescue with additional practice required for significant results. Our program boasts a full day of Avalanche Rescue that provides a substantial amount of practice to set you and your team up to deal with a real emergency. The subsequent two days are spent in the field covering weather and snowpack observations, terrain assessment and decision making in avalanche terrain, with no additional rescue practice.

The outcome is that you get a better understanding of avalanche rescue and decision making in avalanche terrain!  The skills that you'll leave this program with will be significantly improved when compared to taking an AIARE 1 and a rescue course separately.  This program is the baseline of fundamental avalanche knowledge for any serious backcountry skier or rider. 

Requisite Experience 

Our AIARE 1 and Avalanche Rescue programs are made for backcountry riders looking to assess avalanche risk, improve their backcountry decision-making, establish a solid foundation for rescue skills and become reliable backcountry partners.  These courses are great for novices to expert level backcountry users alike, but we require that you:

• Are Proficient at Using Your Gear.  If you are not, consider taking the Introduction to Backcountry Skiing, an excellent way to gain a basic understanding of ski touring.
• Can ride Advanced Terrain at a ski resort.  The course venue may be in fairly benign terrain, but it is important that riders have an advanced riding ability to manage the highly variable snow conditions we experience in the backcountry.  These conditions are typically very different from those found at ski resorts, even in off-piste resort terrain.
• Have Appropriate Gear.  Ski touring bindings or splitboards are much more functional than snowshoes.  Please do not plan on using snowshoes during this course as it can impede the progress of the team.  Likewise, a safety concern for the team is having functional avalanche tools, including:
• Digital Beacon (newer than 5 years old or recently checked by the manufacturer)
• High Quality Aluminum Shovel (plastic blades often break in dense avalanche debris)
• High Quality Probe (modern, quick-draw style)