Blackbird AIARE 1

Decision Making in Avalanche Terrain


This is an avalanche course. But more importantly, it's a course on decision making.

You will learn about how weather, snowpack, and terrain affect avalanche hazard and you will develop an ability to evaluate the hazard.

What you do with that hazard assessment depends on how you and your team process it. Will you make good decisions based on the information you've gathered? Or will you ignore your findings due to human factors?


Progression for your course

1) Take the Online Course


The online course lays a foundation of knowledge and introduces the key concepts of the course. This is essential for planning, assessing hazard in the field and making good decisions.


2) Web Meeting


The web meeting serves three goals:

  1. Review key concepts from the online course
  2. Answer participant questions that came up during the online course
  3. Provide logistics for the field days


3) Field Work & Backcountry Tour


Field Day 1 Covers:

  1. Snowpack Tests
  2. Small Team Avalanche Rescue
  3. On the Go Observations that provide information on the snowpack


Field Day 2 (the Tour Day) Covers:

A full day backcountry tour where we'll make pertinent weather and snowpack observations to help us choose terrain effectively.