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This course has been custom built by the ACC's Lead Winter Guide (and avalanche expert) Doug Latimer and is for those of you who have taken an AST2 course but still want to develop your avalanche skills further. While most avalanche courses analyze the snowpack at a specific point in the season, the aim is to get you understanding how conditions develop dynamically over the course of a full winter with a classroom weekend in November, field weekends in January and February and continuous email discussion with your group and guide. You'll be analyzing the avalanche hazard as it develops week by week, location by location, all with Doug's hands-on coaching and supervision, and a copy of his avalanche e-book included in your course fee. For 2020 we will be doing the classroom sessions online.
The material covered in this program will take you beyond the AST-2 curriculum. Unlike a professional-level certification, the focus isn’t on snow science. While we’ll discuss snow assessments and their role in the decision-making process, we’re focused on the whole decision-making framework with extensive discussion on the components that influence hazard management and decision-making in avalanche terrain. Some of the topics your guide will discuss include:
Weekend 1 (classroom days)
Participants meet at 9:00am on the online platform. Instructions will be sent out the week before. Curriculum topics which will be covered this day include:
Weekend 2 and 3 (field days)
Meeting times will always be 9am, however, locations and objectives will vary each day but you can guarantee you will be out in the field with your instructor(s), typically either in Kananaskis Country or the Icefields Parkway, making real-life observations and gaining hands-on experience. The group will decide together ahead of time the best place to ski based on current avalanche conditions and weather. Curriculum topics which will be covered over these days include:
Participants must have taken the AST 2 course either through the ACC or another provider. Participants should also have a good amount of backcountry skiing experience, possess intermediate to advanced ski technique and good all round fitness. We recommend having at least 2 years of backcountry experience since your AST 2 course.
Food is not provided as part of the course. Bring along a packed lunch and some snacks for the field days or pop out for lunch in Canmore on the classroom days.
Accommodation is not included in this course.
Thoroughly enjoyed it and was so impressed with Doug's leadership and direction! Especially blown away by the e-book with embedded videos he used to instruct the course. Doug is a great guide with LOTS of experienced based knowledge. Even if the course was only a conversation about the framework of thinking he has developed over the years of being in the mountains it would have been worth it. Doug Latimer is an excellent (possibly ideal) choice for the instructor of this course. He has a ton of experience to draw on, but more importantly you can tell that he thinks about these things and questions these things continually, and you can see this built into his course design. - ACC Avalanche Course Participants -
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Please be sure to review our cancellation policy before registering for ACC Adventures: Cancellation Policy We sell Tugo® Travel Insurance suitable for both ACC Adventures and personal trips: Travel Insurance
Doug has 20 years of guiding experience behind him as an ACMG ski guide and an ACMG apprentice rock guide. As well as his private guiding he has spent a number of years working for the UoC where he taught a range of instructional programs in avalanche training, crevasse rescue and backcountry ski and ski mountaineering. He also somehow finds time to run a multimedia production company! In 2019, we are excited to announce Doug will be joining us as our on-staff winter guide; the perfect guy to take care of our Intro To, avalanche safety and other ski courses.
