Quick Details
Develop Snow Safety Skills with a Recreational Level 1 Avalanche Education Course
The tools, tactics and techniques to make competent decisions in consequential mountain terrain.
This Recreational Level 1 Avalanche Course is a three-day (24 hour) introduction to avalanche hazard management for backcountry climbers, skiers, snowboarders, and travelers.
Students can expect to develop a good grounding in how to prepare for and carry out a backcountry trip, to understand basic decision making while in the field, and to learn rescue techniques.
We instill ways to ritualize planning, observations and assessments, and highlight the critical importance of “Reading the Story of Winter” each and every day to minimize risk when traveling in the mountains.
Core Learning Objectives:
- Access local avalanche bulletin and learn to understand & apply
- Describe where and why avalanches occur. Key components for formation
- Human Factors. Identify & apply simple decision tools to prepare for traveling in avalanche terrain
- Apply risk management tools: safety equipment, trailhead checks, and communication
- Learn procedures for basic companion rescue
- Make key observations for snowpack and weather
- Practice snowpack tests appropriate for the current avalanche problems
- Identify avalanche terrain in the field
- Choose terrain appropriate for the current avalanche forecast & safe travel
Students are encouraged and counseled on how to best apply their recently acquired knowledge and skills Managing avalanche hazard and backcountry skills development are lifelong pursuits. We provide guidance to students on how to continue their education both institutional and independent following completion of the Level 1 course.
Equipment
Students are encouraged to bring and use their own avalanche beacon, probe and shovel so that they can gain proficiency with their equipment. If you do not have their own, students will be provided an avalanche beacon, probe and shovel to use during the course. All students receive a handbook to take home and use for future backcountry tours. A list of required personal equipment items will be provided to course participants upon course registration.
Who Should Take This Course?
This course is for anyone, regardless of method of backcountry travel, who would like to, or currently ventures into or near avalanche terrain. The Level 1 and an Avalanche Rescue Course are prerequisites for enrolling in more advanced avalanche education courses.
Participants receive a certificate of completion at the end of the course with full attendance and competency which can be used when applying for more advanced recreational or professional courses where the Rec Level 1 is a prerequisite.
Participants must be physically capable of traveling 2,000-4,000 vertical feet two days in a row and equipped with the experience and gear to manage full days in the field with potentially harsh winter conditions near or above treeline.
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• Avalanche types; Unstable snowpack conditions.
• Size classification of avalanches. Incident statistics.
• Terms common to: avalanches, terrain & snow.
• Avalanche motion: glide, turbulence, speed- dry vs. wet
• Identify Avalanche Problems (conditions, formation, characteristics). -
• Critical slope angles. Terrain features, shape, size.
• Role of slope aspect and elevation to sun and wind.
• Identify avalanche start zones, tracks, and run-outs
• Critical terrain: traps, convexities, triggering. -
• Mountain snowpack development: storms, intervals.
• Weather events leading to formation of strong and weak layers. Basic snowpack development/change.
• Snow Climates; by region and within range-mountain location. -
• Access and understand information from the Avalanche Advisory. North American Avalanche Danger Scale.
• Use of terrain/danger rose.
• Use of regional avalanche center bulletin (Mount Washington Avalanche Center) -
• Terrain, Snowpack, Weather discussion for trip planning
• Use information to plan & prepare for field. Use of Maps/technology.
• Human Factors. Managing Risk.
• Use of decision tools, check lists, contingencies, emergency plans. Communication.
• Application of Plan to Field. Tour group decision making prior to travel; safe travel for conditions. Relevant observations & objectives.
• End of day review. Observations and reflections with group. -
• Field observations: Critical Red Flag Obs.; Recognizing & prioritizing
• Pairing appropriate observations with current avalanche problems and conditions
• Use of avalanche & snow pit tools: inclinometer, compass, probe, saw, shovel, and thermometer.
• Snowpack tests: snow pits: ID layers (hand hardness), basic grain types (strong & weak layers). Field identifying the Avalanche Problem.
• Informal snowpack tests while traveling. -
• Trailhead Check (beacons/equipment)
• Observant Travel/ snow, weather, terrain.
• Route selection. Managing group in terrain: travel protocols & group communication.
• Terrain identification. Recognize slope scale features. ID Avalanche terrain. Safe terrain choices. -
• Beacon use, probing, shoveling.
• Simple one and two person burial techniques.
• Incident Response-Leadership, safety, checklists. Developing a plan based upon terrain, avalanche size, and resources.
• Response as an avalanche victim; As a rescuer.
• Special Problems/ Common mistakes.
• Role of first aid and emergency response in real avalanche rescues.
Curriculum
Avalanche Course Lead Instructors
John Kascenska
WFA/WFR Instructor
John Kascenska is one of the most experienced outdoor educators in North America with more than 40 years of professional outdoor experience. Throughout his career, John has remained current with the latest developments in the outdoor adventure profession to maintain a high level of knowledge and skills that he has passed along to the hundreds of people he has instructed.
John has been trained as an American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) Certified Single Pitch Instructor, SOLO Certified Wilderness First Responder and Senior SOLO Instructor, American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE) I Course Leader, and a professional member of the American Avalanche Association. He is a former member of the Board of Directors for the American Alpine Club, and holds degrees from Lyndon State College, Virginia Tech, and North Carolina State University. In addition to directing Kingdom Adventures Mountain Guides, John teaches and provides risk management advisement for a number of colleges in New England. John has also served as a State Representative in Vermont.
Jordan Cargill
Silverton Avalanche School Instructor
I was born and raised in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. My love for the outdoors was immediate and permanent thanks to family vacations, summers, and weekends exploring the mountains, rivers, and lakes of the northeast.
In my early teens I ventured into the vertical for the first time on New Hampshire’s classic Cathedral Ledge. Immediately, I was enraptured by the unique experiences, places, and people climbing unlocked. Since that first climb, my passion for the mountains steadily increased alongside a desire to share access and respect for these places through guiding and education.
Since then, I’ve explored the globe, guided on three continents, and put up a few first ascents and descents. You’ll catch me smiling whether it’s a short trail run to catch the sunrise behind my home in New Hampshire, or at 20,000’ watching the mountain shadow unfold on the plains below. My limitless excitement for mountain adventures (plus a lot of training and certifications!) enables me to provide safe, customized, and unforgettable client experiences.
Stephen Inman
I grew up in Rhode Island but discovered my passion for climbing, skiing, and guiding in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. After graduating college, and a brief stint playing professional ice hockey, I went west to Ketchum, Idaho to pursue a career in the mountains.
I spent several seasons working for the Sun Valley Ski Patrol while climbing and skiing as much as possible for fun. Eventually, I made the transition to full-time guiding.
Now I split my time guiding in the Pacific Northwest, Idaho, New England, and Alaska. I draw on both my experience and my passion for the mountains while guiding. My love for the wild lead me to become a leave no-trace master educator in addition to gaining guide certifications. I am currently pursuing the IFMGA guide certification to enhance my skillset.
Max Lurie
Max’s dedication to understanding mountain environments predates his guiding career. He holds a degree in environmental science with a focus on glaciology and climate change. During his studies, research projects took him to Denali, Iceland, and the Cordillera Blanca in Peru. He is listed as the second author of a peer-reviewed paper titled, “Is the East Antarctic Ice Sheet Stable?”
Max’s guiding and outdoor education career began in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Where, as a guide, he honed his skills in both summer and winter. He became an EMT in 2012, working for an emergency response ambulance service. He also volunteered with the local Mountain Rescue Service, becoming a team leader coordinating technical mountain rescues and backcountry avalanche response. Notably, he was the only rescue team member capable of making initial contact with victims on the mountainside through the ambulance and transferring their care directly to hospital staff.
As his guiding career progressed, he moved west to work on Mount Rainier and in the North Cascades. Eventually, he relocated to Boulder, Colorado in 2017 and completed his American Mountain Guides Association rock guide certification that same year. His alpine guide certification followed in 2019.
In 2020, he founded Alpine to the Max, now an AMGA-accredited guide service with over a dozen guides operating on the Front Range of Colorado and beyond. In summer, he guides in Eldorado Canyon State Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. In winter, he teaches and oversees recreational avalanche programs in Rocky Mountain National Park. During his spare time, he can be found traveling to climb and ski with his partner Katie.
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