Why Should I Take An AIARE Course?

Why Should I Take an AIARE Course with Colorado Adventure Guides?

The growth of backcountry skiing and riding in recent years has been incredible. With the fantastic images that we see in ski movies and a backlash against the lines and crowds of resorts, more people than ever are starting to explore beyond the ski area. With that growth comes the risks that pertains to backcountry travel, and the need for quality education from local guides who live and work in the backcountry every day, and a highly reputable company with vast experience in the area.

With priority access in the Summit County area, and a wide span of teaching areas from Vail Pass to Loveland Pass and beyond, Colorado Adventure Guides builds its courses based around the best conditions over a wide variety of terrain. This in return helps to provide more comprehensive education for our students. There are numerous reasons to take an AIARE Avalanche Course with Colorado Adventure Guides, and here are the reasons that set us apart from the pack and make CAG a top leader within Colorado’s backcountry education scene.

Trusted AIARE Avalanche Instructors in Colorado

We are about education not cost

Backcountry and Avalanche Education is an investment into a lifetime of new adventures and possibilities, and we recognize that there is a cost-factor involved, which is why we have a series of discounts for you to take advantage of. The value you are getting out of the course is instruction from highly passionate, experienced, and qualified instructors, sharing combined decades of backcountry experience and helping to gain the knowledge and confidence to take on your own backcountry adventures. In calculating a price that is fair to our students, we also offer several perks and discounts for our students to take advantage of. Groups, returning clients, locals of Summit, Eagle, and Park Counties, students who sign up for more than one course, and students who are continuing their education post Avalanche Level 1, all receive generous increasing discounts and perks for going through Colorado Adventure Guides.

We can provide gear rentals from top brands for use during the courses from our in house Backcountry Demo Center. When taking an avalanche course, many are not ready to make the investment into backcountry equipment or are not sure which equipment they should get. Colorado Adventure Guides is a proud partner of Ortovox Avalanche Equipment, DPS Skis, and Weston Splitboards, where we have a full demo center with this top of the line gear available during your course. So at the start of your backcountry life, you are supported with some of the best brand names in the industry. All students who take our Level 1, Avalanche Rescue, or Level 2 Courses are eligible for a FREE rental of an Ortovox avalanche safety package (Beacon, Shovel, and Probe) at no additional cost. Students also have discounted access to our demo center with DPS Skis and splitboards from Weston Backcountry, giving them access to the latest backcountry models. At the end of the course, students also are eligible for exclusive discounts on gear through our partners.

An inviting and diverse classroom

The backcountry community has an image problem that makes it look predominantly white and male and in recognizing this fact, we aim to create an environment that is diverse and welcoming to all genders and ethnicities. Our courses are led through a diverse range of instructors, including many women and people of color, and we aim to be what we want to see in our industry. Our goal is to open the backcountry to anybody and make it inclusive and welcoming in order to buck the image and trend that we are currently seeing.

Weekend and Weekday Courses Available

Having courses that are close to home and in a variety of timeframes is important, and we are varying our course schedules to make way for more weekday, weekend, hybrid courses, and more locations across the State. For the 2022/2023 season we are offering our in-person classrooms as well as virtual classrooms (the field days remain outside). The virtual classroom allows students to take Day 1 from the comfort of their own home and takes a potential day of lodging out of the mix.

We also run hut-based courses out of 4 different huts and the price includes the hut and some of the food. We are also partnering with Winter Park Resort, for a lift-assisted AIARE Level 1 that’s closer to the Front Range. We’re building a course schedule that’s more friendly and accommodating to different schedules and locations.

We have the longevity and experience to give you a comprehensive experience

Colorado Adventure Guides has been operating in the Summit County Area since 1996 and has intimate knowledge of our snowpack, and terrain giving you firsthand beta on some of the most beloved mountains in Colorado. We’ll learn about our unique geography and climate, helping you not only understand our local snowpack but also some of our favorite secret spots.

When you take a course with Colorado Adventure Guides, you’re investing in a lifetime of adventure. While there are many AIARE Course Providers out there, we are the experts with the Summit County knowledge, and we strive on building a course and classroom that is accommodating for every person and schedule. We would love to have you in our courses this year.

Book an AIARE course with Colorado Adventure Guides today!

Our friendly reservation team is standing by to answer any questions and book your AIARE course with Colorado Adventure Guides. Book directly online or call today to reserve your spot.

How To Get Into Backcountry Snowboarding

The First Steps

Breckenridge and Vail ski areas average about 1.6 million skier visits per season.  If I break out my calculator and do some quick math, based on a 150 day season, that’s a crapload of skiers!  Using a standard conversion scale, a ~crapload of skiers~ equals….long lift lines.  But, luckily, there’s an alternative.  Over the last decade, backcountry skiing and snowboarding has taken the world by storm (pun intended). 

Why this spike in interest for the backcountry?  There’s a variety of reasons, but the most common that I’ve heard are: the lift lines and long waits or the fact that the mountain gets tracked out by 9:30am on powder days, resulting in the phenomenon we refer to as “powder panic.”  Surely there are other contributing factors.  But, what is clear is that there’s a decreasing quality of the skier experience at these busy resorts.  Ultimately, these factors have begun pushing people off of the ski area and into the backcountry.

Insights for Beginner Backcountry Skiers

The backcountry, however, isn’t controlled in the same manner as a ski area.  There are no visible boundaries, no ski patrol to scoop you up if you get hurt, no avalanche mitigation to ensure your safety, and no lifts to whisk you to the top in under 10 minutes.  Instead, backcountry travelers create their own boundaries; carry gear for self-extraction; study, learn, and practice how to avoid avalanches; practice avalanche rescue techniques; and spend countless hours skinning up mountains for mere minutes of actual downhill skiing. For some, the concept is ridiculous.  For others, the rewards are worth all of the work.  For those of us who prefer to color outside the lines, backcountry skiing is a lifelong pursuit.

So, you might ask, how does one become a backcountry skier or snowboarder?  My immediate, (and more philosophical) response is patience.  What I mean by this is, don’t rush.  Backcountry skiing is a journey.  There is a lifetime of information to ingest and understand in order to explore a lifetime of terrain.  Being in a hurry will only increase your risk.  But, a more helpful answer is this question:  you need the correct equipment and know how to use it properly, you need the education and you need to apply and practice your skills often.  Seems simple enough and it can be.  However, the backcountry and the snowpack are very dynamic, meaning, often changing so we must stay on top of our game to keep ourselves and our partners safe.  Let’s take a look at the professionally recommended progression for folks interested in making the transition from lift-service skiing and snowboarding to the backcountry.

Step 1: Clinics and Info Sessions

There are numerous clinics, avalanche awareness classes, and/or basic information sessions held around the Front Range of Colorado. They are commonly held at various breweries and ski shops in Denver, Colorado Springs, Golden, and Boulder, as well as, in the high-country in places like Breckenridge, Dillon, Frisco, Silverthorne and Vail.  These sessions usually cover the basics of what you need to know just to dip your toes into the backcountry scene and you’ll have an opportunity to ask any questions that have been burning since the backcountry piqued your interest. 

Typically you can find these clinics via your local mountaineering/backcountry shop, your local guide service and avalanche course provider, or the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.  Your best bet is to follow their social channels to keep up with announcements on these types of community events.  You can also check out books like Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain and Snow Sense to get a jump on your avalanche safety knowledge.  Ortovox, a mountaineering and backcountry safety equipment manufacturer from Germany has some great resources in their Ortovox Safety Academy web page.

Step 2: Introduction to Backcountry Skiing and Splitboarding

This one-day, on-snow course is designed with the “never-ever” backcountry skier/rider in mind.  Students should have the opportunity to learn about the equipment and how it works, put it to use, and travel in the backcountry with a professional instructor.  Avalanche educators recommend a course like this prior to taking an AIARE avalanche course to learn the foundational skills of ski touring or splitboarding.  Backcountry skis and splitboards are  not the same as the equipment we use at normal ski resorts.  There are many moving parts which provide the ability to ski uphill to reach the point from which you’ll ski or snowboard down. Its important to take the time to learn the ins and outs of over-snow travel and associated techniques, like how to apply and remove skins, adjust alpine touring boots, get into and out of your binding, switch bindings between ski and walk mode, how to dress for uphill and downhill, skinning technique, setting skin tracks, performing kick turns, and a variety of other important basic skills. 

What’s Next? – Avalanche Safety Training Courses

Once you’ve taken the steps to gather the basic information about backcountry skiing and splitboarding and have spent some time out in the mountains in low-consequence terrain honing your skinning technique and practicing with your equipment, whether in a formal course environment or with knowledgeable friends, you’ll be ready for the next step.  From here, you’ll begin looking for the right avalanche safety course.  In the next blog, we’ll go over the progression of avalanche safety classes, AIARE Level 1, AIARE Avalanche Rescue, and AIARE Level 2 and do a simple breakdown of the curricula.

Januburied – Backcountry Skiing in Summit County

Death and Skiing: Risk vs. Reward in the Backcountry