Course Outline & Dates

Overview

Evening Presentations

Tuesday evening lectures will be held in-person at Prospect Congregational Church in Capitol Hill, with the option to attend virtually via Zoom. The address is 1919 E Prospect St, Seattle, WA 98112. In-person attendance will be highly encouraged.

Weekends

Weekends 1 is a two day event across Saturday & Sunday, with an option to practice winter camping skills outside on the WAC cabin property.  Weekends 2, 3 and 4 are day trips, however students must keep both Saturday and Sunday free.   To maximize the safety of all course participants, the choice of day (Saturday or Sunday) will depend on weather and avalanche conditions.  The decision on which day we go will be made late in the preceding week, typically on Thursday evening.   Weekend 5 is a backup weekend to be used if one of the day tour weekends need to be canceled due to weather or high avalanche conditions.   Please keep this weekend available; we have used the backup weekend in past courses.

Textbooks (provided as part of class fee)

• Backcountry Skiing: Skills for Ski Touring and Ski Mountaineering, Martin Volken, Scott Schell, and Margaret Wheeler

• Avalanche Essentials: A step-by-step system for safety and survival, Bruce Tremper

Each week's presentation will have an associated reading list from these books and other online resources.

The information on times and dates below is accurate, but the topics covered each week may vary slightly to accommodate lecturer schedules and curriculum updates.

Syllabus

Meet And Greet 

WHAT Meet instructors and fellow students.   Course overview.  Pick up books.      

WHEN Tuesday, Jan 14, 2025 6-8pm

WHERE  TBD

Lecture 1

WHAT Reducing Uncertainty, Gaining Experience (Laura LeBlanc)

WHEN Tuesday, January 21st, 2025 6:30-9:30 PM

WHERE 1919 E Prospect St, Seattle, WA 98112

READING Avalanche Essentials Introduction & Chapter 1 - pg 7-38

Weekend 1 - Cabin Weekend

WHAT Lectures and field exercises covering avalanche companion rescue, uphill movement, transitions, snow shelters, map and compass navigation skills.   Students will stay at the WAC cabin overnight, with the option to snow camp if desired.  We will be on our touring gear for most activities.

WHEN Saturday and Sunday, January 25th and 26th, 2025   8 AM - 5 PM each day.    

WHERE WAC Guy Cabin, 19101 Alpental Access Rd, Snoqualmie Pass, WA 98068

HOMEWORK

• • Reading 

    • Avalanche Essentials - Rescue Techniques pg 138-150

    • Backcountry Skiing - Uphill Movement pg 140-156

    • Backcountry Skiing - Transitions pg 180-185

    • Backcountry Skiing -  Planned Shelters pg 250-254 

    • Backcountry Skiing - Emergency shelters pg 307-310 

  • Viewing

    • AMGA: How To Perform an Avalanche Beacon Check

    • Track Setting - Kick Turns 

    • Efficient Ski Transitions 

Lecture 2

WHAT  Mountain Weather (Kayla Mazurkiewicz, NOAA) & Weather Tools (Craig Roberts)

WHEN Tuesday, Jan 28th 2025 6:30-9:30 PM  

WHERE 1919 E Prospect St, Seattle, WA 98112

READING Backcountry Skiing  - The Mountain Environment pg 262-266

Weekend 2

WHAT Day tour -  Terrain choices, Trip planning, Navigation, Observations

WHEN Saturday, February 1st or Sunday, February 2nd, 2025 

WHERE In the Mountains, TBD

HOMEWORK

• Reading 

  • Backcountry Skiing (Volken et al) - Taking Care of Yourself and the Mountains pg 248-258

  • Backcountry Skiing (Volken et al) - Observations and Awareness pg 120-129

  • Avalanche Essentials (Tremper 2013) - Chapter 5

Lecture 3

WHAT  Trip planning and decision making & Navigation Tools (Laura LeBlanc) 

WHEN Tuesday, February 4th,  2025 6:30-9:30 PM

WHERE 1919 E Prospect St, Seattle, WA 98112

HOMEWORK 

• Backcountry Skiing (Volken et al) - Tour Planning & Human Factors pg 106-120

• Avalanche Essentials (Tremper 2013) - Chapter 9

Weekend 3

WHAT  Day tour - teamwork, terrain choice, trip planning, navigation, observations.

WHEN Saturday, February 8th or Sunday, February 9th, 2025

WHERE In the Mountains, TBD

HOMEWORK

• How To Create An Efficient Skin Track Using Rounded And AVA Turns

• Rip skins off without removing skis 

BREAK WEEK

Valentine's Day, President's Day

Lecture 4

WHAT End to End Tour Planning, Weather analysis, and Trip Planning Tools (Gerhard Schneider)

WHEN Tuesday, February 18th, 2025 6:30-9:30 PM

WHERE 1919 E Prospect St, Seattle, WA 98112

Weekend 4

WHAT Day tour - students practice planning and executing tour with instructor support.

WHEN Saturday or Sunday, February 22nd and 23rd, 2025 All day.   

WHERE In the Mountains, TBD

READING Backcountry Skiing  - Chapter 8

Lecture 5

WHAT Course wrap up, spring touring, risk management/heuristic traps, and hut trip and ski destination essentials.

WHEN Tuesday, February 25th, 2025 6:30-9:30 PM

WHERE 1919 E Prospect St, Seattle, WA 98112

Weekend 5 (Backup weekend)

WHAT Used if one of the tour weekends is canceled due to weather or snow conditions. Day tours Saturday or Sunday.

WHEN Saturday or Sunday, March 1st and March 2nd, 2025  All day

WHERE In the Mountains, TBD

Applications for the 2025 Season are now open!

Apply here!