Avalanche Safety

A basic understanding of weather and avalanche basics can help you better recognize and avoid potential avalanche terrain. Further avalanche education beyond BCEP is needed to safely navigate through avalanche terrain and affect a rescue if required. 

Lesson Objectives

After reading this page students should be able to:

Note: This course is not a replacement for an Avalanche 1 course from American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AAIRE) or equivalent.

Avalanche Awareness

An avalanche is an unstable mass of snow that when triggered can descend down a mountainside with devastating speed and force. About 90% of all avalanches begin on slopes of 30-45 degrees. In dry alpine snow, slopes under 30 degrees can avalanche when very unstable conditions exist. While skiers and snowboarders make up the majority of those who trigger avalanches, climbers also have the capacity to trigger avalanches on unstable slopes. When traveling in avalanche terrain, always travel with a partner or team and bring an avalanche transceiver, shovel, and probe. Training and practice are required to be able to use avalanche safety gear effectively.

1. Avalanche Awareness: Introduction

2. Avalanche Awareness: Snowpack

Evaluating Avalanches hazards means that you are considering Avalanche risks before you leave home. Avalanches strike most often on slopes above timberline that face away from prevailing winds (leeward slopes tend to collect snow blowing from the windward sides of ridges. The most common avalanches that Climbers come across are Slab and Loose-Snow avalanches. Slab Avalanches are known for strong-over-weak layers in the snowpack.

Avalanches occur with the presence of these three conditions:

Unstable Snowpack

Poorly bonded snow that rests on unstable layers

Steep Terrain

Avalanches are possible on any slope steeper than 30 degrees and occur most frequently on slopes 35 to 45 degrees

A Trigger

A disturbance (stress) that initiates fracture within the weak layer causing an avalanche

3. Avalanche Awareness: Weather

Luke Mazamas Avy Awareness 2021 - 3_WEATHER.mp4

Snowstorms deposit new layers of  snow with each storm. Learning about the terrain and weather prior to leaving for a climb can prepare climbers with an understanding how wind, sun, and precipitation affect climbing. 

4. Avalanche Awareness: Terrain

The terrain that a climber crosses is the first step of evaluating avalanche hazards. Therefore, when planning a climbing route through consider the steepness of a slope, the slope aspect (sun/wind exposure), and the slopes features. During the Mt Tabor Navigation Session you will have a chance to practice measuring a slope angle based on a topographic map. This skill is a key to determining which 30-45 routes that have a lower probability for unstable snow. 

5. Avalanche Awareness: Human Factors

Know Before You Go

The North American Public Avalanche Danger Scale is a system used in the United States that rates the avalanche danger based on the likelihood, size, and distribution of avalanches. It consists of five levels, from least to highest amount of danger: low, moderate, considerable, high, and extreme. 

North American Public Avalanche Danger Scale

Find out more about your current avalanche conditions through Northwest Avalanche Center  aka NWAC.


Learn more about navigating and negotiating Avalanche Terrain with Avalanche.org 



A list of Avalanche Awareness, Avalanche 1, and Avalanche 2 (AAIRE 1 & 2) classes can be found here. 


Route Finding Exercise

Try out this exercise to see if you can safely navigate your team through Avalanche terrain.

Knowledge Check

Please complete the required knowledge check before moving on:

Suggested Reading: