Our AIARE 1 Avalanche Course features two full days in the field and an online course built by Blackbird Mountain Guides. It provides a foundation for assessing and managing avalanche hazard as well as finding the best turns in the backcountry!

This avalanche course will give you confidence to make sound decisions in avalanche terrain and will be your foundation of skills and knowledge as you progress into more challenging terrain. By understanding the dangers that exist, how to avoid them, and where to find high quality snow, you'll be ready for some great days in the backcountry!

Blackbird's unique benefits over other avalanche courses include:

Flexibility for your busy lifestyle. Say goodbye to taking off work or missing a great ski day to sit in a classroom. You get the coursework done at your own pace before the field work starts!
Excellent Online Content. Our online course includes content created and curated by our AIARE and AMGA trained instructors. We follow up our online course with a low-ratio, live webinar where participants are encouraged to ask questions, make comments, and engage with our instructors.
Access to the lessons after the course. Everyone comes out of traditional avalanche courses feeling full of knowledge, but two weeks later they begin scratching their heads, wondering what they had discussed and learned during their course. With the Blackbird A1, you always have access to the online program to review the lessons whenever you feel the need to brush up.
Top notch AIARE Avalanche Course Leaders. Our course leaders are some of Tahoe's most experienced snow experts and instructors. We have lived and breathed the Tahoe snowpack (thankfully not literally) and have years of experience guiding, performing avalanche control at Class A ski resorts and instructing courses.

This is not a “first-time backcountry skiing course.” If this is your first time backcountry skiing, please visit Intro to Backcountry. We expect all participants on the Blackbird AIARE 1 to be proficient with their gear and basic ski touring movement. There is a lot of material to cover during this program and we want to maximize the experience for each participant.

Topics Covered in this Avalanche Course:

Mountain Snowpack
Mountain Weather
The Avalanche Problems
Trip Planning
Snow and Weather Observations
How to Practice Small Team Avalanche Rescue
Terrain Choice
Human Factors and Assembling your Team
Trailhead Departure Check
Route Finding
Track Setting
Descent Choices

South Lake Tahoe Option

By default, Blackbird AIARE avalanche courses are based in the Truckee and North Lake Tahoe area. If you are looking for an avalanche course in South Lake Tahoe please select the dropdown dates labelled as South Lake Tahoe.

Requisite Experience

This course is great for novices and experienced backcountry users alike, but we do require that you:

Are Proficient at Using Your Gear. If you are not, consider taking Intro to Backcountry. It's an excellent way to build fundamental ski touring skills.
Can ride Advanced Terrain at a ski resort. The course venue may be in fairly benign terrain, but it is important that riders have an advanced riding ability to manage the highly variable snow conditions we experience in the backcountry. These conditions are typically very different from those found at ski resorts, even in off-piste resort terrain.
Have Appropriate Gear to Ski/Ride. You must have ski touring equipment or a splitboard. Snowshoes can impede the progress of the team and disrupt the learning outcomes for our guests.
Have functional avalanche tools (we rent Avy Gear and Packs), including:

Digital Beacon (newer than 5 years old or recently checked by the manufacturer)
High Quality Aluminum Shovel (plastic blades often break in dense avalanche debris)
High Quality Probe (modern, quick-draw style)

AIARE 1 Avalanche Courses