AIARE Avalanche Refresher Course Itinerary

Your field session is from 8am – 5pm. Prior to the course, Alpine Ascents will contact you with with a specific meeting location and any other pertinent information regarding travel. Carpooling is strongly encouraged, and you can arrange transportation with the other students on the course.

The course venue may change in case of inclement weather, snow conditions, or road closures.

The day begins at the trailhead, where you’ll meet your AIARE Instructor and fellow students for introductions, an equipment check, and a review of the current avalanche and weather forecast. From the trailhead, we tour into the backcountry terrain, where you’ll spend the day applying the AIARE Decision-Making Framework in real conditions.

Before heading into the field, the group runs through a companion rescue refresher — beacon checks, search strategy, probing, and strategic shoveling. Students then take the lead in translating the avalanche and weather forecasts, recent field observations, identify terrain options, and come up with an appropriate travel plan for the day. On tour, students practice reading and traveling through terrain, making snowpack observations, and discussing route options at key decision points, with the instructor coaching from the back rather than leading from the front. As we return to the trailhead in the afternoon, the group debriefs the day’s decisions and discusses pathways for continued avalanche education.

Skills Covered:

• AIARE Decision-Making Framework
• Avalanche and weather forecast interpretation
• Tour planning
• Group communication and management in the backcountry
• Avalanche terrain identification
• Snowpack observations/tests
• Companion rescue: beacon search, probing, shoveling
• Continued education planning