UMA's Level 1, taught in the ideal backcountry terrain of Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons, is a 24-hr course, standardized in the USA by the American Avalanche Association, and equivalent to AIARE 1. It's designed for backcountry travelers seeking a comprehensive, intermediate-level snow safety course. UMA avalanche instructors are broadly experienced, patient, passionate professionals with an intimate knowledge of the Wasatch Mountains and snowpack. Forty percent of the course is classroom-based. Sixty percent is in the backcountry, in and around avalanche terrain.

Learning Outcomes:

• Accessing and understanding content of local avalanche reports
• Effectively applying an avalanche forecast to decision-making
• Where and why avalanches run and key components of their formation
• Recognition and management of human factor risks
• Effective group communication
• Using simple decision-making and planning tools
• Trailhead checks, safe travel protocols and procedures to minimize risk and exposure
• Companion rescue skills, including single-beacon recovery, efficient probing and shoveling techniques
• Basics of weather with respect to snowpack layering and structure
• Performing key snowpack tests and observations
• Recognizing avalanche terrain in field and during classroom route-finding exercises
• Selecting terrain and route appropriate to the present avalanche forecast and problem
• Associating objectives to terrain and avalanche avoidance

How to Register:

• Register Online
• Call us at (801) 550 3986
• Email us