DAY 1:

8:00am Meet your guide in the field at the designated trailhead. 

The venue will be in the Truckee / North Lake Tahoe area and most likely venues are Castle Peak, Johnson Canyon or Donner Summit. These are excellent zones to learn the fundamental skills you'll need to explore the backcountry with ease and efficiency. 

During this meeting your guide will discuss: 

• The avalanche hazard rating for the day and our plan for managing that hazard. The Sierra Avalanche Center provides a daily avalanche forecast and we'll discuss concerns for the day, our intended route and observations we'll make along the way to keep tabs on the conditions.
• Gear Check.  We'll do a quick gear check to make sure everyone has the appropriate layers, gear, and food and water for the day. Make sure you consult the gear list and bring everything listed! Conditions can change quickly and the weather in the mountains is significantly different from town in Truckee. If in doubt, bring an assortment of gear and your guide can help you select the best items for the conditions at hand!
• Trailhead departure check. In the backcountry, each trip begins with a quick checklist to make sure everyone has the proper avalanche safety equipment and rescue gear to respond in the event of an emergency.  As part of this check, your guide will walk the group through a transceiver check to make sure everyone's beacon is functioning properly.

8:45 Begin the Tour, with lessons and teachable moments along the way.

You'll start off on the route described by your guide. Your guide will find appropriate areas to broach backcountry skills, lessons and observations including:

• Navigation and route planning
• Skinning technique: the mechanics of efficient skinning and body position
• Skin track setting, including making rounded, A-V-A and kick turns
• Relevant observations of snowpack and weather that inform us on where we can find the best ski quality and avoid avalanche conditions
• Discussion of descent options
• Travel techniques including sticking together, spreading out, skiing one at a time, skiing together and how to find good places to stop while other team members are skiing

3:30 Wrap up the tour at the trailhead.

We'll close out our program with a debrief of the day and some memorable lessons learned to help solidify the knowledge gained throughout the day.  We close all of our programs well before sunset to provide a margin of safety to get everyone back to the trailhead before dark.

DAY 2:

8:00am Meet your guide in the field at a different trailhead than day 1. 

Spend the day going for a tour and building upon the skills you learned on day 1. Your guide will be more hands off, letting you work through your strengths and weaknesses and helping you as needed along the way! 

3:30 Wrap up the tour at the trailhead.

End the weekend feeling confident with the movement and gear, and with the basic knowledge of reading an avalanche forecast. You'll be ready to join your avalanche savvy friends on the skin track, or ready to crush an AIARE 1 Avalanche Course while focusing on the curriculum rather than the basics of ski touring!