Northeast Avalanche Education American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education

Yes, avalanches happen in New England and each year a number of backcountry enthusiasts are injured or killed in New England from avalanches. They are the leading cause of winter mountaineering accidents on Katahdin. Acadia Mountain Guides Climbing School offered the well respected AIARE (American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education) courses in New England for since AIARE's inception.

Our avalanche courses are cutting edge and include the latest information and developing standards delivered to you by carefully selected AIARE instructors. Not all AIARE instructors working in the North Conway area have experience in a variety of climates and snow conditions. Ours do. They are simply among the best in the field. AIARE courses combine science and practicality to set the current standard for avalanche courses in the United States.

AIARE Level 1 Avalanche Course - Avalanche Awareness and Rescue

All 2017 courses on Mount Washington, NH unless by arrangement. $375.00. Courses start Friday evening at Pinkham Notch Visitor Center.

January 6 - 8
January 20 - 22
February 10 - 12
February 17 - 19
March 10 - 12

This introductory course is a must for all who travel into the mountains in winter and will help you to understand safe winter travel. It is also a great tune up for winter travelers who have some experience or prior training. Snowboarders, skiers, snowmobilers, snowshoers, and mountaineers will learn the basics of avalanche hazard formation through the relationships of terrain, snowpack, weather and people. Participants will learn about interpreting forecasts, trip planning considerations, route selection, travel techniques, educated decision making, and search and rescue skills including use of transceivers and probes. The course combines classroom skills with field time to help you to answer these questions: Where is the danger? When is it dangerous? Should we go on? What do I do if caught? (approximately 24 hours).

Our Mt. Washington courses are typically structured to begin in the evening of day 1 and have a evening session on day 2 instead of meeting in the morning on day 1. This often allows participants to travel more conveniently. About 1/3 of day 2 and all of day 3 is spent in the field.

Prerequisites: Students must have the ability to travel in avalanche terrain on either skis or snowshoes.

WHY CHOOSE ACADIA MOUNTAIN GUIDES FOR YOUR AVALANCHE COURSE?

Simply our instructor team is one of the strongest in New England and our courses reflect that. We were at the table early on when the concept of furthering public avalanche education in the U.S. was being discussed and the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education was being created. For several years we were the only climbing school sponsoring AIARE avalanche courses in the eastern U.S. We often ran them at a financial loss, brought avalanche guru Karl Klassen (canadian IFMGA guide, chief forecaster for the Canadian Avalanche Association, and initial technical director for AIARE) in from western Canada to teach them, and corralled all of our friends to attend just to have enough people to run the course. In fact, many of the snow rangers and current avalanche course providers who are working or have worked on Mount Washington were participants in those early courses. Today, times have changed and demand for courses has created an abundance of courses and providers. While all the courses are good, we believe ours to be superior and here's why:

Jon Tierney is the longest standing, continuous provider of AIARE avalanche courses in the east. He first brought avalanche courses to New England as early as 1986 on Katahdin. He began co-instructing with and was mentored by Karl Klassen in the mid 90's. As an IFMGA guide, Jon along with Marc Chauvin are the only fully certified Ski Mountaineering Guides regularly teaching avalanche courses in New England. In his lifetime, Jon has a love of the alpine has spent a lot of time on snow both as an alpine and ski guide and a climbing ranger and you will benefit from that experience. He brings you experience from ranging from high altitude peaks in Alaska, China and South American to mountains of New England. Jon is known for making things easy to understand and his excellent blend of teaching skills that are highly effective with groups. Jon is an AIARE Level I course leader, Level II Instructor course leader and a graduate of the Level III professional course.

"Jon is a very experienced professional guide and one of best outdoor educators in the AMGA. His client care and technical skills are excellent." - 2006, Bela Vadasz (Ski Mountaineering discipline coordinator) and Rob Hess (AMGA Technical Director).

Al Mandell is a superb, technically precise skier who has coached several aspiring IFMGA guides on their ski skills in preparation for their ski exams. But more than that he has a huge passion for skiing that you can't help but become infected by. He is an engineer so avalanche science makes sense and he is able to share it with participants in a very understandable and excited manner. Al has completed the AMGA Ski Guides Course, is taking his AMGA Advanced Ski Mountaineering Course and Aspirant Exam this spring and will pursue the AMGA Ski Mountaineering Certification the following year. If you take a course with Al, you will take another. Al is an AIARE Level I course leader, Level II Instructor and a graduate of the Level III professional course.

Blake Keogh is the newest member of our team but he is no stranger to snow. A superb skier, Blake shadowed and assisted on nearly every course we ran last season. Now that's a lot of commitment from someone whose friends are all out there shredding the "pow" on those freshie days. That commitment extends to research and Blake completed his graduate thesis on the subject of The Human Factor Effect and Avalanches in Tuckerman Ravine. Blake an AIARE Level I course instructor.

So before you just sign up for a course, compare our instructor team to others out there. When you do, the choice will be easy.

Each participant on an AMGCS avalanche course will be provided a beacon, probe and shovel. Interestingly we were surprised to learn that not all northeastern avalanche courses traveling in avalanche terrain were outfitted with the core safety tools. Additionally each group of four will be provided a group snow study kit. Of course, if you have your own you are welcome to use it.

At each course we bring a selection of brand new beacons, probes and shovels along with avalanche packs and snow study tools. Student can try these and purchase them at a significant discount if they like. If you need outdoor gear, all AMGCS clients also get a lifetime 15% personal purchase discount at AlpenglowGear.com.

We have access to Katahdin! Hands down, Katahdin is the best area in New England for an avalanche course. For our Katahdin avalanche courses we stay in a warm bunkhouse (courtesy of Baxter State Park) and are only minutes away from real avalanche terrain on a variety of aspects. The area works well for both skiers and snowshoers.