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Avalanche Safety Course
Avalanche safety course by Mark Smiley (MTN Sense) is an online course meticulously crafted for recreational skiers and riders eager to acquire invaluable avalanche training. With Mark Smiley and eight other guides and ski pros as your instructors, this course is your gateway to mastering the art of finding the best snow while steering clear of avalanches. If you're keen on developing and honing your avalanche safety and backcountry traveling skills, you've landed in the perfect spot.
Do you desire to:
- Find a perfect avalanche training online?
- Ski bigger lines deep in the backcountry?
- Identify non-avalanche terrain for high hazard days?
- Quickly collect info online to make better decisions?
- Identify what can kill you, and minimize hazard exposure?
- Be a vital asset to your ski touring partners?
- Get valuable performance feedback direct from Mark Smiley on several at home assignments?
- Tour in the field four days with an IFMGA Mountain Guide?
If Yes, Then this avalanche course will:
- Help you make informed decisions about where to ski on any given day based on the avalanche problems.
- Identify safer and more dangerous slopes.
- Hold space for quality discussions with partners.
- Quickly create digital backcountry tour routes plans.
- Conduct and interpret key snow pit stability tests (avalanche stability tests).
- Understand how collect helpful information from every source available, and what to ignore.
120+ entertaining video lessons
Searching for 'avalanche courses near me'? Look no further! Our bite-sized, engaging videos bring the lessons to your home.
Join 1300+ students
Lots of skiers and splitboarders have happily completed this avalanche online training course.
Deeper Learning: Hybrid & Field Days Available
Click here to learn how to team up with an IFMGA Mountain Guide for four training touring days.
What sets this course apart
- Get educated by Mountain Sense methodology about avalanche awareness on your schedule.
- Avalanche classes taught by 12 different guides and ski pros.
- Ask direct questions to Mark Smiley throughout.
- Safe learning environment. Feel free to ask bold questions during this comprehensive avalanche training.
- Dive deeper with remote video performance feedback (Phase 2)
- Join an IFMGA Mountain Guide in the field for four days of touring in engaging terrain and rescue training
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Avalanche Course Video Curriculum
- Welcome! Start Here (1:27)
- Let's Get Started (1:13)
- Scratch the Itch (3:59) Preview
- What Makes These Snowy Death Traps (4:39)
- Types of Avalanches
- Avalanche Anatomy (4:40)
- Colter Hinchliffe's Near Miss Story (7:54)
- Quickly Identify Avalanche Terrain (5:19)
- Tech Tools to Measure Slope Angle (4:57)
- Perform Self & Team Rescue (4:06)
- Shovel Beacon Probe Pack...Gear Talk (11:06)
- Understand the Current Conditions (6:02)
- Understand the Avalanche Forecast Bulletin (18:18)
- 4 // String Together A Safe Ascent & Descent Path (8:06)
- 4+ // The Only Thing Truly In Your Control, Terrain (3:51)
- 5 // Group Management (6:44)
- Partner Assessment Belt Ranking Rubric Preview
- Quiz: Identify Avalanche Terrain
- Intro: 9 Avalanche Problems (0:54)
- Loose Wet & Loose Dry: No Big Deal, Except When They Are (8:55)
- Storm Slab Avalanches: Why Ski Patroller's Get To Throw Bombs (13:44)
- Wind Slab Avalanches: This Problem Blows (8:13)
- Persistent Slab Avalanche: The Funhog House Guest
- Deep Persistent Slab Avalanche: The Sleeping Dragon (14:01)
- Cornices: A Pissed Off Rattlesnake (13:28)
- Wet Slab Avalanches: The Fickle Trickle (1:11)
- Glide Avalanches: Avoid The Brown Frown (1:05)
- Potentially Lethal Non-Avalanche Hazards (2:00)
- Vince Anderson Shares A "Near Miss" (5:54)
- The Order of Things
- A Mountain Guide's Morning Avy Routine (31:21)
- Beacon Check at the Car (3:33)
- Red Flags: Mother Nature Screaming "Go Home" (4:37)
- Reporting To Your Avalanche Center: R2D2 (8:14)
- Real Life Example To Report (1:04)
- Quiz: Route Finding
- 3 Snowpack Climates with Vince Anderson (10:50)
- Early Season: Snowpack (Oct-Dec) (6:48)
- Mid Winter: Snowpack (Jan-March)
- Spring Skiing: Snowpack (March-May) (3:32)
- Spring Skiing: Good Snow is Aspect Dependent (3:49)
- Spring Skiing: Timing Perfect Corn Snow (2:00)
- Corn Snow: The Pursuit of Buttery Perfection (4:27)
- Quiz: Understand Current Conditions
- Intro - Janelle Smiley (1:22)
- Fear is Excitement Without Breath (7:12)
- Hey, Lego My Ego! (3:50)
- Let's Talk About Communication (3:23)
- Share Your Expectations (3:50)
- Know Thyself, Know Thy Partner (9:30)
- Mentorship & Risk (15:01)
- Quiz: Know Thyself Know Thy Partner
- Intro: Why Digging Is Important (2:29)
- The Stability Wheel: Organizing Pit Results (18:01)
- The Stability Wheel: Written Description
- Stability Test Progression (7:37)
- Hand Shear Tests (5:34)
- Nerding Out With Persistent Weak Layers (14:59)
- Route Planning For Untracked Skiing (0:53)
- Rescue Phases with Doug Workman (41:47)
- Digging Best Practical Practices (10:16)
- Rescue Scenario Example at Snowfall Lodge (7:09)
- Rescue Debrief at Snowfall Lodge (6:47)
- Quiz: Rescue
- What's Next? (3:20)
Enroll Here
- Complete the video course on your schedule. Reference lessons in the future.
- Ask Mark Smiley direct questions.
- Complete the video course on your schedule. Reference lessons in the future.
- Ask Mark Smiley direct questions.
- Complete the video course on your schedule. Reference lessons in the future.
- Ask Mark Smiley direct questions.
Mark Smiley brings a different approach and humor to this course. In particular, I enjoyed learning about finding the best corn snow! Janelle’s portion about being a better partner is also particularly useful because it provides specific examples of ways to communicate with others. Thanks for the fresh take on this avalanche educational online course!
I am a few years past my Avy 2 class and I completed this program with my spouse/ski partner who is going into a Avy 1 class this winter. We both walked away with new knowledge and stoke for the upcoming season.
Absolutely phenomenal. The wife and I learned a bunch and laughed the whole time doing it.
Mark brings a different approach and humor to this course. In particular, I enjoyed learning about finding the best corn snow! Janelle’s portion about being a better partner is also particularly useful because it provides specific examples of ways to communicate with others. Thanks for the fresh take on avalanche education!
Frequently Asked Questions
Forever - across any devices you own.
Right now. Your pace. Yours forever.
Tier 3 will check all the avalanche class prerequisites to get into a PRO 1 Level course.
Yes. The term "ski touring" encompasses everyone. It is used for simplicity of speech, not exclusion.
Yes. Every lesson has a place for questions, and Mark will reply personally. We will meet twice a month, from Nov 15 - May 15, via Zoom. The mountain meet-ups will also be a great time to connect and ask questions in real time.
Who is Mark Smiley?
Mark Smiley's passion for adventure has taken him on 30+ expeditions on five continents. He and his wife, Janelle, are the only people that have attempted to climb all 50 Classic Climbs of North America (48 successfully). He was part of a team to set a world record skiing across the entire Alps Mountain Range (1100 miles and 292,000 vertical feet) in a mere 36 days.
His avalanche safety training style is fun, mellow, and easy to understand. As an IFMGA Certified Mountain Guide, Mark Smiley is among the world's elite guides to have reached this status. More important than this certification is his candid style of conveying the best avalanche skills training techniques that will benefit you the most.
Victor Caldua was a friend and mountain guide and father who died in an avalanche while climbing Alpamayo, Peru. He left behind a wonderful wife, Alicia, and two amazing and talented daughters, Vanessa and Estefani. 10% of the profit from this course will be gifted to Victor's family for their education expenses. Vanesse wants to be an engineer and Estefani wants to be a mountain guide.
Sept 1, 2023 Update: $10,000+ sent to Victor's family, to help with school expenses. We are committed to supporting their needs indefinitely. As more people enroll, his kids' education prospects increase.
