Our avalanche training courses are action-packed, combining classroom and field instruction to provide participants with a solid introduction to avalanche awareness and travel skills. For an overview of what course you should take, please see the CMS AIARE Flow Chart.

Learn how to travel in and around avalanche terrain, gain insight into decision-making strategies, the human factors involved in avalanches, develop critical planning and travel techniques and comprehensive rescue skills. Experience how avalanche beacons work, how to dig and analyze a snow pit, how to use the Decision Making Checklist, and learn many other critical backcountry tools.

Our instructor team is made of experienced AIARE instructors and professional mountain guides with decades of experience in avalanche terrain, from the Alps to Alaska to right here in Rocky Mountain National Park, one of the country’s premier winter adventure destinations. In addition to classroom work, our course includes field instruction each day to provide a well-rounded education to backcountry decision-making, trip planning, terrain selection, and companion rescue techniques.  With a maximum ratio of six students per instructor in a twenty seven-hour course, we exceed AIARE minimum standards to provide the highest level of instruction.

The American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit educational organization that gathers the latest knowledge, research and ideas in avalanche safety and create avalanche training courses that reflect the needs of today’s backcountry travelers.