The Blackbird AIARE 1 + Rescue + Wilderness First Aid delivers all of the essential skills you need feel confident and deal with emergencies in the backcountry. It combines 3 essential courses that provide the fundamental backcountry skills you need to avoid avalanches, rescue a partner in the event of an avalanche and address life threatening injuries in the backcountry.
The courses included in this streamlined, 5 day program are:
- AIARE 1 Avalanche Course: Decision Making in Avalanche Terrain
- Lift Accessed Avalanche Rescue Course
- Wilderness First Aid
The package streamlines the learning experience by tying lessons from each component into the next. By learning the content in one course, we eliminate the need to cover rescue topics during the AIARE 1 and are able to devote that time to lessons on terrain, human factors, weather and snowpack. This format also allows us to tie in lessons from each component of the course into later segments to solidify the learning outcomes.
How does the AIARE 1 portion of the AIARE 1 + Rescue provide a better experience than a normal AIARE 1? Normal AIARE 1 avalanche courses devote a significant amount of time to avalanche rescue, which is realistically an introduction to avalanche rescue with additional practice required for significant results. Our program boasts a full day of Lift Accessed Avalanche Rescue that provides a substantial amount of practice to set you and your team up to deal with a real emergency. The subsequent two days are spent in the field covering weather and snowpack observations, terrain assessment and decision making in avalanche terrain, with no additional rescue practice.
Why do I need Wilderness First Aid Training (WFA)? AIARE 1 teaches you how to avoid avalanches and the Avalanche Rescue Course teaches you how to rescue your partner in the event you make a mistake and had an accident. Avalanche Rescue courses don't cover what to do with a buried victim once they've been uncovered or have been severely injured or aren't breathing? Without first aid and CPR training a serious injury could become a fatal or life-altering injury.
This course will provide you with:
- a process to make you confident in your decision making in avalanche terrain
- the knowledge and training to rescue a partner caught in an avalanche
- a set of first aid skills that will help you appropriately manage a serious injury or sickness in the backcountry
Requisite Experience
Our AIARE 1, Avalanche Rescue and WFA programs are made for backcountry riders looking to assess avalanche risk, improve their backcountry decision-making, establish a solid foundation for rescue skills and become reliable backcountry partners. These courses are great for novices to expert level backcountry users alike, but we require that you:
- Are Proficient at Using Your Alpine Touring / Splitboard Gear. If you are not, consider taking the Introduction to Backcountry Skiing, an excellent way to gain a basic understanding of ski touring.
- Can ride Advanced Terrain at a ski resort. Riders must have advanced riding ability to manage the highly variable snow conditions we experience in the backcountry. These conditions are typically very different from those found at ski resorts, even in off-piste resort terrain.
- Have Appropriate Gear. Ski touring bindings or splitboards are much more functional than snowshoes. Please do not plan on using snowshoes during this course as it can impede the progress of the team. Likewise, a safety concern for the team is having functional avalanche tools, including:
- Digital Beacon (newer than 5 years old or recently checked by the manufacturer)
- High Quality Aluminum Shovel (plastic blades often break in dense avalanche debris)
- High Quality Probe (modern, quick-draw style)
Dates
Available Dates
Prices
$1,050 per personItinerary
The Blackbird AIARE 1 + Rescue + WFA is three courses rolled into one 5 day immersive program!
Day 1: Avalanche Rescue
8:45 am Meet your guide at Donner Ski Ranch ski resort. Open with introductions, gear-up and load the lifts. If lifts are not available due to ski resort operations, we will use an alternative touring-based venue and will adjust the pricing accordingly to reflect unused lift tickets. We’ll begin with covering gear and fundamental skills before moving into an instructor rescue demo and participant-led scenarios.
3:00 pm We wind down the program to exit the ski area before close.
7:00-9:00 pm Webinar to cover AIARE 1 content. Will probably be slightly shorter due to meeting in the field.
Day 2: AIARE 1: Observations & Snowpack Tests
8:00 am Meet your guide, introduce each other, and review the plan for the day. The day will center around observations, assessment of weather and snowpack, and evaluating and moving through or near avalanche terrain.
3:00 pm We will close the day with a margin of daylight remaining when we hit the trailhead. Safely back at the cars, we’ll review the day and debrief the decisions we made. Debriefs are very helpful for building useful experience quickly!
Day 3: AIARE 1: Backcountry Tour
8:00 am Meet your guide at the trailhead, ready with weather and avalanche hazard forecasts. We’ll review the plan for the day, including a discussion of the day’s avalanche problem, the proposed route up and options for the ascent and descent. The guide will facilitate a Trailhead Departure Check/Beacon Check.
8:30 am We’ll begin the tour, making decisions based on our trip plan, weather forecast and the avalanche advisory for the day. Along the way, we’ll make snowpack and weather observations and open discussions on where we should go and how we should travel. Your guide will provide insights and foster sound decision making as the group navigates the challenges of the terrain, snowpack and weather.
3:00 pm We will once again close the program with a margin of daylight remaining when we hit the trailhead and we’ll debrief the day. Once we’ve covered the decisions and outcomes of the day, we’ll close the course with thoughts on the best ways to move forward with your backcountry progression and what to do to prepare for the next two days of Wilderness First Aid!
Day 4: Wilderness First Aid Course Part 1 of 2
8:00 am Meet your instructor and review the plan for the day.
3:30 pm We will close the program at the trailhead with a quick review of the skills that we learned and an overview of what to expect the following day in the field.
Day 5: Wilderness First Aid Course Part 2 of 2
8:00 am Meet your instructor and review the plan for the day.
3:30 pm We will close the program at the trailhead with a quick review of the skills that we learned and next steps you can take to apply these skills and further your wilderness first aid education.
For more details regarding the WFA Course outline, please refer to our WFA Course itinerary page!
**Please note the itinerary may shift around depending on weather!
Equipment
Gear Guide / Packing List
Backcountry Touring Gear
❏ Alpine Touring Skis or Splitboard - Light to Midweight Setup with “Tech Bindings”
❏ Alpine Touring Boots or Splitboard Compatible Boots; Scarpa F1
❏ Climbing Skins - Mohair Mix is Best; Black Diamond GlideLite Mohair Mix,
❏ Touring Backpack - A Pack with Avalanche Tools Pocket; BD Cirque 35
❏ Ski Poles - Lightweight, Adjustable Poles with Baskets; BD Expedition 3 Poles
❏ Ski Helmet - Lightweight S
Avalanche Gear
RENT a the full Avalanche Gear Kit from Blackbird
❏ Avalanche Beacon - Digital Avalanche Transceiver; Black Diamond Guide Recon BT
❏ Avalanche Shovel - Collapsible, Aluminum Shovel; Backcountry Access BT2 Shovel
❏ Avalanche Probe - Quickdraw Style Probe; Backcountry Access Stealth 300
Head and Neck Layers
❏ Sun Hat - A Baseball Hat; Blackbird Mountain Guides Logo Hat
❏ Sunglasses - Dark Lens Glasses with Side Coverage; Julbo Shield
❏ Goggles - Ski Goggles with a Storm Lens; Julbo Aerospace Reactive
❏ Warm Hat - Lightweight Warm Hat that Fits Under Your Helmet;
❏ Neck Gaiters - Light to Midweight Neck Gaiters; Buff or your favorite Face Masks
***These Are Required as Covid-19 Face Coverings
Upper Body and Hand Layers
❏ Long Sleeve Base Layer - Lightweight, Synthetic/Wool; Patagonia SunHoody
❏ 2 Insulating Top Layers - Light to Midweight Insulation Layers; Patagonia R1 & Nano Air
❏ Puffy - Midweight Down or Synthetic with Hood; Patagonia Fitzroy or similar
❏ Hardshell Jacket, Hooded - Waterproof, Gore-Tex, NOT insulated; Arc’Teryx Alpha FL
❏ Light Gloves - Light to Mid Weight for Warm Temps; Flylow John Henry Gloves, BD Tour
❏ Midweight Gloves - Mid to Heavy Weight for Cold Conditions; BD Legend
❏ Sports Bra - Wool/Synthetic;
Lower Body and Foot Layers
❏ Socks - Midweight Wool/Synthetic; Darn Tough Via Ferrata
❏ Underwear - Wool/Synthetic
❏ Long Underwear - Wool/Synthetic “Long Johns”; Patagonia Capilene Air
❏ Softshell Ski Pants - Breathable, Weather Resistant for Fair Weather; OR Trailbreaker II
❏ Vented Hardshell Ski Pants - Waterproof Pants for Extreme Weather; Flylow Compound
Food and Water
❏ Nalgene Water Bottle - Hard Sided Bottle; Nalgene 16oz-32oz Wide Mouth Bottle
❏ Soft Water Bottle 1.5L - Flexible Water Bladder; Hydrapak Flux 1.5L
***Please bring at least one hard sided water bottle.
❏ Snacks - Enough Snacks for the Day. There will be no lunch break so snacks must be
convenient and easy to eat.
Other Essentials
❏ Sun Screen (SPF 30 minimum)
❏ Lip Balm (with SPF)
❏ Hand Sanitizer
❏ Toilet Paper
Optional
❏ First Aid/blister Kit
❏ Chemical Hand Warmers
❏ Hydration System - Flexible Water Bladder with Hose; Hydrapak, Camelback, Platypus
Group Gear
Blackbird Mountain Guides will supply all of the group gear for the trip, including:
✓ Guide’s First Aid Kits
✓ Wag Bags (Solid Human Waste Disposal Bags)
✓ Snow Observation Equipment (Snowsaws, Loops, Crystal Cards, Etc)