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Course fees include a $15 CPR certification fee.

Course Overview

Avoiding avalanches is the best way to stay safe in the backcountry, but accidents can happen. If your partner is buried, you have only minutes to act, and an effective rescue is challenging. You can’t rely on ski patrol or outside help; it’s up to you to be prepared. You also need the skills to treat a victim once they’re out of the snow. Basic wilderness medicine and CPR training can save your partner’s life.

This eight-hour, on-snow course teaches you how to perform an avalanche rescue and how to use your gear effectively, as well as teaching you essential wilderness medicine skills like CPR, improvised splinting, and hypothermia treatment. Small student-to-instructor ratios ensure personalized coaching and multiple real-life scenario drills.

After enrolling, you’ll gain access to our Student Portal with pre-course materials, detailed course information, avalanche resources, and more.

Who Should Take this Course?

This course is for anyone heading into the backcountry, no matter what mode of transportation you use. This course is ideal for beginners or as a refresher for those who don’t regularly practice rescue skills or are looking for the most up-to-date rescue and wilderness medicine techniques.

What is Required for this Course?

Please bring your own avalanche rescue gear (transceiver/shovel/probe). If you need to borrow any of these items, let us know in advance so we can make arrangements.

Course Goals

• Understand the steps and procedures of an avalanche rescue.
• Understand how to use an avalanche transceiver, probe, and shovel properly.
• Perform a full avalanche burial rescue in less than 10 minutes.
• Understand how to continue practicing rescue skills individually and with partners.
• Understand how to efficiently transition from avalanche rescue to wilderness CPR during a rescue scenario.
• Understand how to perform single-rescuer and multi-rescuer CPR.
• Understand how to recognize the signs & symptoms of various stages of hypothermia and how to manage them in the field.
• Understand the basic principles of identifying and stabilizing orthopedic injuries in the field.
• Feel confident building improvised splints with materials commonly carried in backcountry packs.
• Understand what first aid supplies are required to adequately perform CPR, treat hypothermia, and build splints in the field.

Cancellation policy

Our cancellation policy can be found here. If you have any questions, please email [email protected]

Winter Weather and Avalanche Hazard Policy

In the event of extreme winter weather and/or dangerous avalanche conditions, the UAC reserves the right to reschedule courses to maintain the safety of our students and instructors. If a course needs to be rescheduled, we will work with students to find the best rescheduled date and refund students who are unable to attend.