At Bluebird Backcountry, we believe backcountry education should begin before you arrive for the first day of your avalanche course. We know students get more out of their avalanche education when they’re not fiddling with gear or worried about making their first turns off-piste. That’s why we’ve developed a lesson progression to prepare you for your avalanche education. Our curriculum was developed by a team of experts with deep outdoor and experiential education roots, and we continue to hone it to better fit our students’ needs throughout each season. This year, we’ve revolutionized our approach to backcountry education by offering Backcountry 1, 2, and 3 lessons, as well as specialized clinics and mentorship opportunities, to help you feel fully prepared to take on your AIARE Rec-1 course.

Take a look at this handy flowchart to find the next step in your backcountry education progression—or take our quiz to find out which lesson is right for you.

Backcountry 1: Intro to Backcountry

Our classic Intro to Backcountry lesson is back by popular demand. This welcoming, beginner-friendly course is geared toward never-evers and folks who have only clicked into their bindings in the backcountry a handful of times. This course introduces newcomers to their touring gear and covers basic skinning techniques, backcountry etiquette, Leave No Trace best practices, and transitioning from uphill to downhill. You’ll leave this course acquainted with your gear and ready to hone your backcountry skills. 

Backcountry 2: Backcountry Skills

This lesson is geared toward skiers and splitboarders who have spent several days on touring gear and are comfortable with their equipment and basic skinning techniques. Now that you’re familiar with your gear, it’s time to understand best practices for staying comfortable in the winter backcountry (including basic equipment troubleshooting), develop more efficient skinning techniques for varying terrain, and improve your downhill technique in variable conditions. (It’s very different from typical in-bounds skiing or snowboarding!) You’ll leave this course knowing how to prepare for a day in the backcountry and with better uphill and downhill technique.

Backcountry 3: Avalanche Prep

The final installment in our three-lesson Backcountry Progression is the bridge between the skills you’ve already learned and your avalanche education. This course is geared towards folks who are familiar with their touring gear, can skin uphill in terrain of varying steepness, and can comfortably ski or splitboard most of the terrain at Bluebird Backcountry. This lesson covers trip planning basics and introduces observations about current conditions, as well as more advanced skinning and downhill movement. You’ll leave this course feeling prepared to learn about avalanches and how to avoid them (because you’ll know enough about backcountry travel that it won’t be a distraction) in your AIARE course.

Clinics

Throughout the season, our seasoned instructors will offer clinics on a wide range of backcountry topics. (Think of these as electives in your backcountry education.) Clinics will cover Advanced GPS Planning, Nutrition for Big Days, Skiing Steeps in the Backcountry, and Interpreting the Avalanche Forecast, among others.

Check back this fall for our 21/22 clinic offerings!

AIARE Avalanche Rescue

Avalanche rescue gear and the knowledge to use it properly are key components of your backcountry quiver. In this one-day course, you’ll learn what to do if you or a member of your party is caught in an avalanche, understand your gear and how to use it efficiently, practice in realistic scenarios, and develop a plan for continuing practice. AIARE Avalanche Rescue is a prerequisite for the AIARE 2 and Pro 1 courses. This course is also meant to be retaken regularly to keep skills sharp, so it’s a great refresher for folks who are experienced backcountry travelers but haven’t had formal avalanche education recently.

AIARE Rec-1

This three-day course is the gold standard for anyone who wants to travel in or near avalanche terrain. (Those who have taken an AIARE Avalanche Rescue course are welcome and will have a chance to practice their skills, but it’s not a prerequisite for this course.) Students will learn to identify avalanche terrain, develop a plan for traveling in avalanche terrain, effectively use a risk management framework to make decisions in the field, and learn and practice rescue techniques.

AIARE Rec-2

For those who are ready to expand their avalanche and risk management knowledge to take on bigger challenges in the backcountry, this three-day course is the next step. Prerequisites for this course are AIARE Rec-1 and Avalanche Rescue, and it’s strongly recommended that students have practiced the skills they learned in those courses for at least one season. This course introduces more complex situations, including being the leader of a small travel group in the backcountry, traveling in complicated terrain, and developing a travel plan that incorporates a discussion of weather, terrain, and snowpack conditions where resources are scarce. 

Avalanche Refresher

You tune your skis every year. Why wouldn’t you do the same with your avalanche knowledge? Our Avalanche Refresher Course will help you get ready for whatever the season throws at you. We’ll practice avalanche rescue drills, dig into this season’s snowpack and what to look for while you’re out there, and review avalanche terrain and backcountry routefinding. The course includes self-paced online learning, a virtual meeting with your instructor team, and a day in the field at Bluebird Backcountry.