For more general questions about Canada West Mountain School, please visit our FAQ page.

Questions about Canada West Mountain School Courses
How long has CWMS been teaching Avi courses?
What's the difference between your AST-1 courses?
Who are your Course Instructors?
What is included in your training?
Where are your field sessions held?
How well do I need to be able to ski for the AST-1?
How quickly do your courses book up?

General questions about Avalanche Training Programs
Who oversees Avalanche Training in Canada?
Questions to ask Avalanche Training Providers

Since that time we have delivered Avalanche Safety courses to many thousands of skiers, boarders and climbers.

The Vancouver-based course has a separate evening session in advance of the field sessions in order to cover much of the theory. This allows students to gather this info a few days in advance of the field session.

The Whistler-based AST-1 course has the classroom sessions incorporated into the Saturday and Sunday. This allows students to take the course all in one weekend, but the days are longer and there is slightly less time to practice new skills. Field sessions are split between Whistler and Blackcomb.

Additionally, all instructors take part in our own Instructor training sessions every season to ensure that every CWMS Instructor is teaching our courses to the same exacting standards.

For more details please visit our Instructors page.

• Instruction by professional Avalanche Safety Educators and CAA Active or Professional Members (Max. 1:8 ratio)
• Backcountry Avalanche Safety 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
• Field training in 2 separate geographical locations
• 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

Our Whistler-based courses have the field sessions in both the regions behind Whistler and Blackcomb mountains.

Field sessions for the Snowshoe courses are held on Mount Seymour and in the backcountry regions of the Coquihalla, or in the Diamond Head region of Garibaldi Park.

For full details on the CAA please visit their site at Avalanche.ca.

• Is their program recognized by the CAA?
  
If you are in doubt, check directly with the Canadian Avalanche Center at www.avalanche.ca and follow links to the AST Course providers page for a list of recognized course providers.


• Who teaches their courses?
  If it is a larger agency find out who teaches the courses and what the Instructors experience is.
While there are standards set by the CAA for course content, the delivery of that content is critical to ensure a quality learning experience and you want to be sure that the Course Instructor is experienced.


• Who has developed and supervises their program?
  Check to find out who manages the training program and what their Instructional and field experience is.
  
• 
  Do Instructors receive training for Instructional techniques to help in teaching courses?
  
There are no standards for ensuring that Instructors know how to teach courses well - find out what their teaching experience is and if they receive any training for Instructional techniques.


• What is included in the cost of a course?
  
As with any service, make sure you find out what you are getting up front. You may find out after the fact that you will have to pay extra for Avalanche Safety gear, lift access, course materials, etc. While this is not necessarily a concern, you may want to know about these costs in advance.

Also, if the course fee seems unusually cheap, you may want to question why. Remember, ultimately what you are paying for is the experience, training and professionalism of your Instructor combined with the backing and support of the agency they work for - don't expect to get a high quality course and pay only a small amount.