Backcountry Skiing Fundamentals Course

This 2‑day course is designed to pro­vide com­pre­hen­sive instruc­tion to back­coun­try ski­ing with our school. Whether you’re look­ing to exit out of the gates at the local resort or just seek­ing to expand your avail­able ski oppor­tu­ni­ties, this course is an ide­al place to start. We will com­bine fun­da­men­tal skills instruc­tion with great mod­er­ate pow­der ski­ing at areas around Stevens Pass, Blewett Pass, Mt Bak­er, and Sno­qualmie Pass, hope­ful­ly cre­at­ing an expe­ri­ence that has you yearn­ing for more. 

Round out your backcountry education by also joining us for an AIARE Level 1 Course.

Top­ics will include, devel­op­ing a tour plan, select­ing appro­pri­ate ter­rain for uphill and down­hill trav­el, and apply­ing appro­pri­ate trav­el tech­niques while search­ing out untouched pow­der stash­es. This course allows time to get in-depth, cov­er­ing the basics as well as some more com­plex sub­jects like man­ag­ing com­plex ter­rain, iden­ti­fy­ing ​“deci­sion points,” pow­der ski­ing tech­nique, and res­cue sce­nar­ios. Par­tic­i­pants will be giv­en an active role, to have a chance to test their judg­ment while under the instructor’s guid­ance. And of course, plen­ty of turns will be had by all! 

This is an intro­duc­to­ry course with no spe­cif­ic back­coun­try ski­ing expe­ri­ence required. Inter­me­di­ate ski skills are rec­om­mend­ed. It is open for tele­mark and alpine tour­ing skiers, as well as snowboarders.

This course involves the following:

• Ski­ing with a day pack
• Ski­ing inter­me­di­ate lev­el ter­rain with some slopes to the black dia­mond level
• Long days in the snow and in poten­tial­ly adverse weather
• Skiers should be in excel­lent phys­i­cal con­di­tion and com­pe­tent on var­ied terrain

Course Cur­ricu­lum:

• Selec­tion of prop­er equipment
• Care and use of climb­ing skins
• Trans­ceiv­er check
• Skin­ning and uphill trav­el technique
• Ter­rain selec­tion, man­age­ment, and trav­el tech­niques (up/​down)
• Group deci­sion making
• Trip plan­ning and prep
• Self-res­cue/­com­pan­ion rescue
• Sim­ple snow pack tests