AIARE Level 1 Avalanche Safety Course
Mount Baker - Snoqualmie Pass - Stevens Pass | WashingtonAIARE Level 1 Avalanche Safety Course
- Mountaineering School
- Pack Weight: 25 lbs.
- 24 Hours
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- Dates & Pricing
Alpine Ascents is a nationally recognized AIARE avalanche education provider and A3 (American Avalanche Association) member, delivering industry-standard avalanche training led by certified instructors. The AIARE 1 course introduces students to the core decision-making tools needed to travel more safely in avalanche terrain. Courses are based in the Pacific Northwest, with field days held at Mount Baker, Stevens Pass, and Snoqualmie Pass. These venues are ideal for hands-on instruction and real-time snowpack learning.
Course Highlights
Decades of Experience: 30+ years of experience leading courses throughout the Pacific Northwest
Focused Instruction: 24-hr course with flexible asynchronous education & two full field days
Avalanche Rescue Scenarios: Features avalanche companion rescue and applying local forecasting tools
Trip Planning: Introduces skills for effective tour planning and travelling through avalanche terrain
Varied Terrain: Multiple venue locations across the Cascades
Gear Support: Full-service gear department for equipment questions, consultations, and avalanche safety gear rentals
Modes of Transport: AIARE 1 can be taken on backcountry skis, splitboards, and snowshoes
Women’s Programs: Women’s-only courses available in partnership with SheJumps
My guides clearly had years of experience and training, mixed with a passion for teaching others!
They guided us while also empowering the group to learn leadership skills ourselves. They created an environment where everyone felt welcome and willing to share when they felt vulnerable or scared.
I had SO much fun on my She Jumps Avy 1 Course.
Baker was incredibly stormy one day, and blue bird the next. Our guides were methodical, calculated, and thorough. I would recommend this class to anyone that plans on spending any amount of time in the backcountry participating in winter sports. Lyra, Jess and Robin all kept a cool, calm, collected, and professional manner the entire weekend. I felt incredibly safe and accounted for.
Shane and Bryce did a great job of pushing our learning
and ensuring we had an adequate understanding of the backcountry, avalanche safety, and rescue. They were thorough, straightforward, friendly, encouraging, and constructively critical, and gave me such insight into my strengths and weaknesses in the backcountry. I am inspired to continue the skills they taught me and cannot thank them enough.
We had an excellent instructor who provided opportunities to confirm our understanding of each concept.
He had great relevant experiences to share that drove the point home and made each technique memorable. This weekend was both educational and fun!
Learning Objectives
Designed for anyone who spends time in the mountains on snow—whether skiing, splitboarding, snowshoeing, climbing, or mountaineering—this introductory course develops foundational skills in terrain assessment, route planning, hazard evaluation, and companion rescue.
- Understand the avalanche phenomenon and identify avalanche terrain
- Find and interpret avalanche forecasts
- Make snowpack observations
- Plan and facilitate group discussions
- Plan and execute backcountry tour with team members
- Traveling techniques in avalanche terrain
- Plan for travel utilizing avalanche forecasts, weather forecasts, maps, and other resources
- Avalanche companion rescue
Make the most of your backcountry education this winter by bundling our Level 1 Avalanche Safety with Intro to Backcountry Touring for $1,085! Save $200 with this deal and enrich your Level 1 Avalanche Course with helpful techniques for proficient backcountry travel and tour-planning. Together, these programs introduce all the necessary skills to travel in simple to challenging backcountry terrain with team members of equal or greater training.
The Alpine Ascents Way
Our AIARE 1 courses use a blended format that includes a flexible online curriculum, a virtual session, and two full days of field learning in the backcountry
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Partnerships with AIARE, A3, and SheJumps
We uphold the highest national standards and practices in avalanche education
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Course Locations
All courses based in the Pacific Northwest with easy access and varied terrain for hands-on instruction
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The Alpine Ascents Way
As a nationally recognized AIARE avalanche education provider, offering high-level instruction delivered by experienced certified instructors. Our AIARE 1 courses use a blended format that includes a flexible online curriculum, a 2-hour virtual session with instructors, and two full days of field learning in the backcountry. This structure mirrors the standard three-day AIARE format, while allowing participants to complete classroom learning remotely—making the course more accessible for those with work, school, or travel constraints.
In the field, students gain hands-on experience in avalanche terrain, applying decision-making frameworks, terrain recognition, tour planning, and avalanche rescue skills in real time. Working in small groups, participants move through the full decision-making cycle—reviewing avalanche forecasts, developing tour objectives, assessing conditions as they change, and debriefing choices throughout the day.
Our instructors focus on practical, field-based instruction that emphasizes hands-on learning and real application. Participants rotate roles in navigation, setting skin tracks, choosing terrain features, and managing group travel, allowing everyone to practice leadership and contribute to planning decisions. Avalanche rescue is taught through realistic scenarios, giving students time to build speed and fluency with beacons, shoveling strategy, probing, and companion rescue techniques.
Our Partnership with AIARE & A3
Alpine Ascents is proud to partner with The American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE) to provide avalanche education courses. AIARE is a nonprofit established in 1998 specializing in the development of avalanche education curriculum. AIARE’s mission is to save lives through education for recreationalists and professionals. Our instructors are certified by AIARE to teach avalanche education.
Alpine Ascents is a recognized American Avalanche Association provider. Our AIARE courses meet the national standards set by the American Avalanche Association (A3) to deliver high quality and proven curriculum with experienced educators. A3 providers are held to the highest industry standard for education and risk management. Additionally, A3 providers guarantee small class sizes and hands-on field experience.
Women’s Only Courses with SheJumps
Since 2020, Alpine Ascents has proudly partnered with SheJumps as the guide service for their fundraising climbs, avalanche courses and Snowpack Scholarship, and mountaineering and rock climbing programs. We value this partnership and are glad to support SheJumps in their mission.
SheJumps is dedicated to welcoming women, girls, and non-binary folks into outdoor spaces, and aims to empower women through educational experience and inclusive spaces. We partner with SheJumps for women’s only AIARE 1 courses each season, where participants learn from and alongside other women and non-binary folks. Please indicate SheJumps in the notes section of your application to join.
Mount Baker
Mt. Baker (10,781 ft), the highest point of the North Cascades, is a heavily glaciated dormant volcano. The twelve active glaciers of Mt. Baker cover an area exceeding 20 square miles. Mt. Baker is unique in its great mass of snow and ice and easy accessibility. This combination creates a perfect training ground for backcountry skiing and riding.
- Setting the world record for recorded snowfall in a single season (1,140′ in 1999), Mt. Baker remains one of the snowiest spots in the Pacific Northwest and the world
- The Heather Meadows area offers prime ski tours for skiers/riders of all ability levels, from wide bowls, to tight trees
Snoqualmie Pass
Snoqualmie Pass (3,100 ft), is located less than an hour from Seattle and offers a convenient escape from the city. A combination of high snowfall, easy accessibility, and desirable slopes and epic couloirs make Snoqualmie Pass one of the best zones in Washington and exceedingly popular with backcountry travelers of all experience levels.
- The roadside ski tours around Snoqualmie Pass and beyond are unusually steep and access excellent terrain
- Many consider Snoqualmie Pass to be one of the densest ski touring areas in the country by pure volume of runs
Stevens Pass
Stevens Pass (4,062 ft) is set deep within the Cascade Mountains off of Highway 2. This zone is known for deep powder and phenomenal tree skiing. Alpine terrain hidden high above the tree line offers skiers of all abilities a playground that has everything from large open bowls to steep narrow couloirs. Convenient roadside access provides an easy entry to sustained long vertical ski runs and the some of the highest quality snow in the state.
- Yodelin, a retired ski area just northeast of Stevens Pass, is a favorite zone featuring open glades and liberally spaced trees
- The Stevens Pass backcountry area has a convenient and short approach
AIARE Level 1 Avalanche Safety Course Blog
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Local Impact
Alpine Ascents maintains close ties with the Northwest Avalanche Center ‘NWAC’. We firmly believe in NWAC’s mission to equip our community and reduce the impact of Avalanches. As a supporting sponsor, you’ll find Alpine Ascents hosting ski education days with NWAC, collaborating on NWAC Avalanche awareness webinars, and contributing in-kind donations each year. Many of our guides and instructors also work with NWAC.
AIARE Level 1 Avalanche Course FAQ
The AIARE Level 1 course is a comprehensive 24-hour decision-making framework designed to help backcountry skiers, splitboarders, mountaineers, and snowshoers recognize avalanche terrain, manage risk, and execute companion rescue.
As a world-renowned mountain guide service and recognized American Avalanche Association (A3) provider, Alpine Ascents brings unmatched expertise. Our certified AIARE instructors are active high-altitude guides who teach practical, real-world decision-making drawn from decades of expedition experience worldwide.
Our course features a hybrid learning model combining 4 to 6 hours of flexible self-paced online modules, an interactive 2-hour evening Zoom session with instructors, and two full days of hands-on field instruction in real backcountry terrain.
By completing classroom theory online at your own pace and joining an interactive evening Zoom session, you save time and eliminate midweek travel, allowing us to dedicate 100% of our weekend time together to hands-on field instruction in the mountains.
Field sessions take place in premium Pacific Northwest backcountry locations, including Snoqualmie Pass, Stevens Pass, Mount Baker, and Mount Rainier National Park, providing real-world experience in diverse snowpacks.
We maintain a low 6:1 student-to-instructor ratio, ensuring personalized feedback, intimate group discussions, and close supervision during field decision-making and beacon search exercises.
This course is built for all winter backcountry recreationists—including skiers, splitboarders, snowshoers, climbers, and mountaineers—who want to travel safely in non-patrolled alpine environments.
Skiers and splitboarders should be comfortable riding off-piste “blue square” terrain in varied snow conditions while carrying a 25 lb. daypack. Snowshoe travelers are also welcome on designated courses.
Students learn how to interpret local avalanche forecasts, identify hazardous terrain features, conduct snowpack observations, execute companion rescue using a beacon, probe, and shovel, and develop structured tour plans.
Yes. Students must have a modern digital avalanche transceiver (beacon), a dedicated snow probe, a metal shoveling blade, and appropriate touring equipment (skis with skins, splitboard, or snowshoes). Gear can also be rented prior to the course.
Participants should be able to travel roughly 2 to 3 miles with 1,500 feet of elevation gain per day while carrying a 25 lb. daypack and spending full days active in winter mountain weather.
Yes. In addition to our co-ed courses, we partner with organizations like SheJumps to offer Women-Only AIARE Level 1 courses to foster an inclusive, supportive learning environment.
Yes. Alpine Ascents offers a course package deal bundling the AIARE Level 1 with our 2-Day Intro to Backcountry Touring course, saving you $200 while expanding your uphill technique and terrain management.
Courses run throughout the winter season from mid-December through March, with multiple weekend field options available at Snoqualmie Pass, Stevens Pass, and Mount Baker.
Upon successful completion of all online, Zoom, and field components, students receive an official AIARE Level 1 Course Completion certificate recognized throughout North America by guide services and avalanche centers.
