Avalanche Safety guide: Instructional Sessions
Are you passionate about snow sports and seeking a career in snow safety or simply aiming to enhance your backcountry skills? New Zealand offers a range of professional avalanche courses catering to both recreational and professional levels. This article provides an overview of the key options and steps to find and complete avalanche training courses in New Zealand.
**Start with Foundational Avalanche Awareness**
For beginners, a helpful starting point is the New Zealand Avalanche Advisory's 23-episode video series, "Avalanche Tips and Terms." This free resource covers essential avalanche knowledge, such as terminology, terrain recognition, and decision-making in backcountry conditions. It serves as an excellent foundation to build your Avalanche IQ before any practical course [1].
**Recreational Avalanche Skills Courses**
For recreational users like skiers, snowboarders, and alpine tramping enthusiasts, several providers offer the Avalanche Skills Course 1 (ASC 1). For example, Basecamp Adventures runs ASC 1 courses, which teach avalanche basics and safe backcountry travel techniques [3]. Completing such courses is crucial to understand avalanche hazards, how to interpret forecasts, assess risk, and use rescue equipment effectively [5].
**Professional-level Avalanche Training**
For those pursuing guiding, ski touring instruction, or professional mountain work, more in-depth training programs are available. The European Center of Adventure Training (ECAT) offers the "Snow & Avalanche Safety" course, which includes an 8-hour online component plus 5 days of field training. It provides comprehensive avalanche safety skills, including avalanche danger assessment, backcountry travel, and rescue techniques. ECAT's program is designed with professional evaluations and competency benchmarks, covering leadership development, group management, and teaching methods, ensuring readiness for professional outdoor roles [2].
Advanced ski touring courses that integrate avalanche safety, route planning, and client care for professional operations are also available, often required as prerequisites for guiding licenses and advanced avalanche certifications [2].
**Enrolling in Avalanche Training Courses**
To enroll in these courses, visit the websites of recognized providers such as Avalanche.net.nz (New Zealand Avalanche Advisory), Basecamp Adventures, ECAT, or other certified outdoor education centers. Check course schedules online or contact providers directly for registration details and upcoming course dates. Consider starting with online or video resources to prepare before attending hands-on field courses [4].
**Summary**
By progressing from beginner awareness to professional training with hands-on instruction, you can build strong avalanche competence suited to your outdoor activity level in New Zealand [1][2][3][5]. The 4-day ASC2 course focuses on giving participants tools to assess avalanche conditions and make decisions based on evidence. The ASC1 course covers understanding weather, terrain, snowpack, and avalanche conditions, while the ASC2 course delves into identifying weather instability, snowpack factors leading to stability vs instability, and testing for them.
For more information on avalanche safety, visit avalanche.net.nz. This article serves as the first of three steps for comprehensive avalanche safety. Stay tuned for the next article covering Forecast and Equipment for avalanche safety.
[1] https://avalanche.net.nz/avalanche-tips-and-terms [2] https://www.ecat.co.nz/avalanche/ [3] https://www.basecampadventures.co.nz/avalanche-skills-course-1-asc-1 [4] https://avalanche.net.nz/avalanche-training/
Education and self-development are essential components of avalanche training, as learning new skills and increasing knowledge about avalanche safety is key for both recreational enthusiasts and professionals. Whether you're an aspiring snow sports guide or simply aiming to enhance your backcountry skills, New Zealand offers various professional avalanche courses focused on learning the fundamentals of avalanche awareness, survival skills, and decision-making in backcountry conditions.
