Avalanche Safety Courses
Our Avalanche Skills Training (AST*) courses for skiers, snowboarders, snowshoers and snowmobilers have been offered since 1982. We have 25 years of experience instructing critical avalanche safety skills, knowledge and techniques to backcountry recreationists in order to help them prepare for safe travel in avalanche prone terrain.

Scheduled Avalanche Safety Courses and training programs are held in a variety of locations including Vancouver, Whistler, Mount Seymour, Blackcomb and other backcountry locations. Please see our individual course descriptions for complete details.

Canada West Mountain School AST-1 courses include:

• Instruction by professional Avalanche Safety Educators and CAA Active or Professional Members
• Manual designed exclusively for Avalanche Safety Training Courses
• "Avalauator" package for decision-making support
• Use of our Avalanche transceivers, high quality G-3 shovels, probes and snowsaws
• Industry recognized Certificate of Completion
• Ongoing access to free Canada West Mountain School Avalanche Safety consultation
• Program delivery and content developed for CWMS by CAA Professional Members
• All courses directly supervised by Level 2 certified Professional Member of the CAA

* Note about CAA Standards for Avalanche Courses:

The CAA Avalanche Skills Training (AST) program provides guidelines and minimum instructional standards for Avalanche Safety Training courses. The AST program was previously called the Recreational Avalanche Course (RAC) program and has been jointly developed by the CAA and members of the avalanche training industry.

Canada West mountain School (CWMS) Weekend Avalanche training programs exceed the CAA - AST/RAC minimum standards for AST Level 1 courses. For more info please visit the Canadian Avalanche Association website.