Colorado Wilderness Rides And Guides Announces 2021 - 2022 AIARE Avalanche Education Courses

AIARE Level 1 Course / AIARE Level 2 Course / AIARE Avalanche (Companion) Rescue Course /

For any outdoor enthusiast, traveling safely in a winter environment is paramount. These accredited American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE) courses (AIARE Level 1, AIARE Level 2, Avalanche Rescue, and Avalanche Awareness) provide an introduction and opportunity for developing essential decision-making skills for avalanche hazard management.

AIARE Level 1
AIARE Level 2
AAIRE Avalanche Rescue Course (aka Companion Rescue)

Our AIARE Level I Courses are designed to fit around a typical workday schedule in order to maximize learning time around everyday life, with two four-hour classroom sessions in our office in Gunbarrel, North Boulder, and two full-day field days in Rocky Mountain National Park and Roosevelt National Forest. In addition, we have partnered with Backcountry Access (BCA) to provide our students with the latest and best in avalanche beacons, probes, and shovels, which are available for rent to our students for the duration of the course at no additional charge.

AIARE Level I is meant to teach the fundamentals of avalanche safety including reading terrain, choosing safe ascent and descent routes, mitigating hidden dangers, and learning to locate and rescue a buried companion. Although we love the mountains, sometimes the mountains don't love us, and we want to be sure that we are providing the best way to find and mitigate dangerous situations.

Course Dates:

Thursday evening Lectures (6-10 pm). Saturday and Sunday field days (7 am - 4 pm). Same format for rest of season. This course is a combination of Self-Paced 4-5 hours of learning, evening lectures (3-4 hours), and two days outdoors (16 hours).

Weekend Field Days:

December 2-5, 2021
December 9-12, 2021
December 16-19, 2021
January 6-9, 2022
January 13-16, 2022
January 20-23, 2022
January 27-30, 2022
February 3-6, 2022
February 10-13, 2022
February 17-20, 2022
February 24-27, 2022
March 3-6, 2022
March 10-13, 2022

Monday evening Lectures (6-10 pm). Tuesday and Wednesday field days. Same format for rest of season. This course is a combination of Self-Paced 4-5 hours of learning, evening lectures (3-4 hours), and two days outdoors (16 hours).

Mid-Week Field Days:

December 6-8, 2021
December 13-18, 2021
January 10-12, 2021
January 24-26, 2022
February 7-9, 2022
February 14-16, 2022
February 21-23, 2022

Price: $595 per person

The AIARE 2 is a three-day/24-hour course that provides backcountry travelers an opportunity to advance their decision-making skills in more complicated situations such as being a leader within a small travel group, traveling in more complicated terrain, and/or developing a travel plan where resources are scarce.

The AIARE 2 builds on the introductory avalanche hazard management model introduced in the AIARE 1 and adds to it the evaluation of critical hazard assessment factors. Students will describe and discuss the weather, snowpack, and avalanche processes, and identify how these processes relate to observations and travel within avalanche terrain.

Course Dates:

Friday - Sunday

January 21-23

Price: $675

AIARE Avalanche Rescue is a one-day stand-alone course that is intended to be retaken on a regular basis in order to keep abreast of best practices in rescue techniques and gear. New participants will learn the basics of companion rescue while returning participants will expand their skill set with advanced topics and realistic scenario practice to help improve their skills.

Course Dates: