AIARE Level I is for anyone who travels in potential avalanche terrain – skiers, snowshoers, climbers, or snowmobilers.

Fitness, clothing, and equipment to ski or hike up to 8 miles round trip with a 10-pound pack. If skiing or riding, you should be advanced enough to ski ungroomed intermediate terrain at major northeast ski resorts safely.

AIARE Level I is for anyone who travels in potential avalanche terrain – skiers, snowshoers, climbers, or snowmobilers.

Fitness, clothing, and equipment to ski or hike up to 8 miles round trip with a 10-pound pack. If skiing or riding, you should be advanced enough to ski ungroomed intermediate terrain at major northeast ski resorts safely.

AIARE Level I is for anyone who travels in potential avalanche terrain – skiers, snowshoers, climbers, or snowmobilers.

Fitness, clothing, and equipment to ski or hike up to 8 miles round trip with a 10-pound pack. If skiing or riding, you should be advanced enough to ski ungroomed intermediate terrain at major northeast ski resorts safely.

AIARE Level I is for anyone who travels in potential avalanche terrain – skiers, snowshoers, climbers, or snowmobilers.

Fitness, clothing, and equipment to ski or hike up to 8 miles round trip with a 10-pound pack. If skiing or riding, you should be advanced enough to ski ungroomed intermediate terrain at major northeast ski resorts safely.

This course will utilize terrain in/around Gaspésie National Park

Acadia Mountain Guides is the longest standing avalanche education provider on the East Coast. Led by IMFGA guide Jon Tierney who has been teaching avalanche courses since 1986. Many well known New England avalanche educators first started with an AMG course. See instructor bios.

Participants receive a 20% discount on any avalanche related purchases made between registration and seven days after the course (15% thereafter for lifetime). Avalanche gear will be available for purchase at the course as well. (online at AlpenglowGear.com) 

Ski Clothing; (your normal backcountry skiing kit w/ added insulation for standing around and learning)

• Softshell jacket
• Softshell pants
• 1 mid-weight layer (regulator fleece)
• 1 light top or similar base layer
• Base layers
• 2 prs of ski socks
• Heavy gloves
• light gloves (soft shell, wind stopper or wool)
• Ski hat/helmet
• Down coat/puffy/insulation layer
• Goggles
• Sunglasses
• Balaclava 

Lunch Food, Snacks, and Drinks (as desired);

• Cliff bars/energy bars/energy gels
• Jerky
• Mixed nuts
• Chocolate
• Hot chocolate/tea/coffee/etc.

In the field

• Touring skis, poles, boots, split board, or snowshoes.
• Probe, transceiver, shovel*
• Ski or splitboard Skins*
• Ski pack (30 L or bigger)
• Thermos
• Compass with baseplate
• Sunscreen/lip balm

At the end of the AIARE Level I course, the student should be able to:

• Develop a plan for travel in avalanche terrain.
• Demonstrate the ability to identify avalanche terrain.
• Effectively use The AIARE Risk Management Framework to make terrain choices in a group setting.
• Demonstrate effective companion rescue.

The following is a summary of topics presented. The classroom presentations are mostly instructor led presentations and discussion then reinforced by a variety of videos and case studies – many of actual incidents.

Introduction to Avalanche Phenomena

• Types and characteristics of avalanche problems
• Avalanche motion and classification
• The mountain snowpack: an introduction to metamorphism and layering
• The influence of weather and time

Observations and Information Gathering

• Avalanche danger scale
• Field observation techniques
• Snowpack tests: layering, compression test, extended column tests
• Avalanche danger factors or “Red Flags”
• Observation checklist

Trip Planning and Preparation

• Avalanche terrain recognition, assessment, and selection
• Route finding and travel techniques
• Decision making and Human Factors
• Basic familiarization with common mapping software, map use and navigation
• Creating a tour plan

Companion Rescue and Equipment

• Rescue organization
• Use of transceiver, probe and shovel
• Strategic shoveling
• Basic care of injury

Coming Soon

Lodging: Acadia Mountain Guides has been traveling to the Chic-Chocs for a few years now and we have found an incredible teaching environment at the Mont-Albert huts. Right in the heart of Gaspésie National Park, these wood-stove heated huts sleep 8 comfortably with ample room for drying equipment, cooking, eating, and a pleasant classroom. 

Huts are equipped with;

• Electricity
• Wood Stove
• 4 Bunk Beds (8 beds total) 

No one starts the day expecting to get hurt in the backcountry. However, despite all we know and all we do, accidents can still happen. At AMG, we take your medical care seriously. Like many guide services, our leaders are trained as Wilderness First Responders; many are WEMTs. Additionally, all our regular employees participate in periodic medical skills review with our owner Jon, a flight paramedic and lead instructor in wilderness medicine. Additionally, on courses traveling to remote areas such as Katahdin, Chic-Chocs, or Mount Washington, you can expect our guides to have pain and sedation medications available if needed.

As we look forward to traveling to the Chic-Chocs we must keep in mind that travel has only recently begun between the borders of the US & Canada. 

All students will be required to have a vaccination as be able to provide that proof of vaccination upon registration as well as when entering Canada to access the Gaspesie National Park.

For more information and to read the requirements put forth by the Canadian government you can visit the link here; Canadian Covid Travel Requirements

AIARE courses are recognized across the country and are consistent with the international standards and recording methods. AIARE instructors participate in annual training and network continuously with each other to learn about the latest information in avalanche science. Courses flow sequentially regardless of where you take your class. AIARE courses teach you a way of thinking about snow travel rather than a protocol-based approach to learning. Save lives through education.

Please complete the following as pre-course work and be prepared to discuss in class.

On line learning: Please see course information packet attached to confirmation email.

Case Studies:

• If you are a skier / boarder, please read the Tunnel Creek Avalanche case study.
• If you are a climber or hiker, please look over the local case study from Tuckerman Ravine.
• Be prepared to chat the case studies:  What went wrong, could you see yourself making similar decisions, what may have changed to outcome?

Tour Planning:

• Tour planning is how you prepare to go into the back country.
• A tour plan is generated by using the avalanche bulletin, combined with maps (both hard copy and electronic versions) and a weather forecast to understand how the weather will influence your plan.
• It is easy to create reliable computer/phone-based tour plans to bring to the backcountry. You should always have a hard map and compass.
• Your tour plan should give you an idea of the vertical gain, the distance, compass bearings, run options, areas to be careful of. Attached is a sample tour plan template.
• Electronic tour planning is great, but you need to understand some basics as well. We will review tour planning basics in class but keep in mind it is not a navigation class. Please bring a compass, ideally with a base plate.
• We will be doing some sample tour planning during the course. It is helpful if you are able to bring a laptop computer.
• We suggest downloading the following programs and apps which are useful for digital mapping:

         To your laptop: Caltopo
          To your smartphone: the mapping apps Avensa, Caltopo, Gaia and the Windy app for weather.

         Tour planning resources:

• https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=38.8,-98.4&z=5&b=mbt
• https://www.google.com/earth/
• https://www.gaiagps.com/
• https://www.stockalpine.com/posts/google-earth-gaia-gps.html
• http://www.mountainschoolnews.com/2010/04/route-planning-how-to.html

We seek to find the best snow and learning conditions possible for each course and to provide different venues for each field day. If we travel to the west side of Mount Washington a nominal parking fee may be charged at the Cog Railway base station parking area. Occasionally we utilize lift access at Wildcat to access terrain and this may require purchasing a single ride lift pass.

Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain, 3rd Edition. Bruce Tremper

• This edition features a wholly new chapter in which Bruce pulls all the pieces together to create an organized, step-by-step system for making decisions off, and on, the mountain.

Avalanche Essentials: A Step-by-Step System for Safety & Survival, Bruce Tremper

• This is the companion to Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain the bestselling avalanche text in the U.S – with easy-to-understand safety tips and checklists to help anyone stay safer in avalanche terrain. It is a small, take-along resource to reference in the field and assist decision-making. Winter athletes don’t necessarily want to be snow scientists but playing in avalanche country does require basic knowledge of the risks in order to stay safe.

Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman

• This book explores the ways we think and make decisions under pressure, we find it valuable as we are exploring the idea of leading a group or being an active part of the decision-making in the backcountry.

Chic-Chocs Backcountry Touring Guidebook

• The most comprenhensive guidebook to skiing in the Chic-Choc region, owned and used by all of our guide. Incredibly useful for beginning to understand the terrain you will be learning/travelling in.

*Purchase at ALPENGLOWGEAR.COM see course confirmation for Acadia Mountain Guides client discount code