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Avalanche Level 1 with Winter Camping

AAI Avalanche Level 1 with Winter Camping · Wasatch, Utah · 3 field days, 2 nights out · 2–4 per guide

3 days, 2 nights Group: 2–4 clients per guide $1,150 per person

The Trip

Avalanche Level 1 with Winter Camping · Wasatch, Utah

Most avalanche courses send you home to a warm bed.

The decisions that hurt people aren’t made on the first morning, rested and fresh. They’re made late in a trip — cold, short of sleep, with a plan you’re already committed to and a partner who doesn’t want to turn around.

Duration3 days, 2 nights
Group2–4 clients per guide
Price$1,150 per person
ExperienceAssumed. If you’ve never toured, take Backcountry Essentials first.
SeasonFebruary — Presidents’ Day weekend
WhereWasatch, Utah

That’s why this course camps.

You finish with the same AAI Level 1 certificate as our two-day course. The difference is how far into your own decision-making you get to look.

Late light on a Wasatch slope, Utah

How it differs from the two-day course

Three field days instead of two, with two nights of winter camping between them. You’ll make your day-three decisions tired, cold and having slept badly — the state most real backcountry mistakes are made in, and the one no classroom can simulate.

If the camping is the obstacle, take the two-day Avalanche Level 1 instead. Same certificate.

Quick facts

Where Salt Lake and Provo area mountains, Utah
Length 3 field days and 2 nights out, plus a 6–8 hour online module and a live evening seminar
Team size 2–4 clients per guide
Certification AAI Level 1
Prior touring Assumed. If you’ve never toured, take Backcountry Essentials first.
Season February — Presidents’ Day weekend
Rate $1,150 per person

What you’ll work on

Snowpack and weather. Making observations that mean something — and knowing which ones don’t. Most people can be taught to dig a pit in an afternoon. Knowing what the pit is worth takes longer, and that’s where the time goes.

Terrain assessment. Slope angle, aspect, terrain traps, consequence. Learning to look at a slope and see the whole picture rather than the line down it.

Stability tests. How to run them, and more importantly how much weight to put on the answer.

Tour planning. Turning the advisory and the forecast into a plan for one specific day — then adjusting it in the field when the plan turns out to be wrong, which it regularly is.

Rescue. Beacon search and probing, practised until it’s fast. Speed is the whole thing.

Winter camping. Site selection, staying dry, cooking, melting water, and building a sleep system that actually lets you sleep. Unglamorous, and it decides how well you function on the last day.

Why February

By mid-winter the snowpack is deep enough to build a decent camp in, and the days run more than an hour longer than in mid-December. The nights are still cold. That matters when you’re sleeping out twice and still expected to think clearly on the third morning.

In most Wasatch seasons the early-winter weak layers are still in the snowpack by February, buried deeper. Reading them there is the problem you’ll be managing from then until spring.

Team size

2–4 clients per guide.

Your instructor will know your name and how you think by the end of the first day. That is the only way coaching works, and it’s the difference between a course and a lecture.

Who teaches it

Wasatch Mountain Guides (WMG) instructors — assessing the snowpack and the avalanche hazard on the morning of each field day rather than relying on what it was doing last week.

The course follows the American Avalanche Institute (AAI) Level 1 curriculum, approved by the American Avalanche Association (A3). You finish with an AAI Level 1 certificate of completion.

Where this leads

Level 1 is a real threshold. It’s the point where clients stop needing us for ordinary days and start calling about bigger ones.

From here: the Backcountry Ski Mentorship, six days ending with you leading a tour under supervision. Then Wasatch ski mountaineering descents, Mount Baker, and for some clients Valdez or the Alaska Range.

If you’ve never toured, start with Backcountry Essentials — two days, no camping, and you’ll get far more out of Level 1 a season later.

Operated and guided by Wasatch Mountain Guides (WMG). BBE is the referral and sales partner; reservations, payments and required forms are handled directly by WMG.

Questions before you book?

We answer every inquiry personally.

Ask a guide

Day by Day

How the course runs

Weather and snowpack decide the details. What follows is the shape of the course. Your instructors will change the venue or the order when conditions give them a reason to — and explaining that reasoning is itself part of the teaching.

Skiers at sunset on a Wasatch ridge, Utah

Before you arrive

The online module. Self-paced, six to eight hours, completed at home. Do it properly. The field days assume it, and the people who skip it spend day one catching up instead of learning.

The live evening seminar. A session with your instructors the night before the first field day. You’ll meet the people you’re going out with, look at the current conditions together, and get the plan for the morning.

Certification

An AAI Level 1 certificate of completion, awarded after the online module, the evening seminar and all field days — all three. It’s the same certificate as our two-day course.

Weather and hazard

We teach in weather. Bad weather makes some of the instruction better, and a hard night is genuinely useful experience.

High avalanche danger is instructive, not disqualifying. It changes the terrain we use. Your instructors choose ground that suits the day’s hazard, and the reasoning behind that choice is part of what you came to learn.

If conditions become unsafe or unworkable, we’ll change the venue or talk to you about rescheduling.

Into the field, and straight into making observations that mean something: snowpack, weather, and what the two are doing to each other.

Terrain assessment starts here and never stops for the rest of the course — slope angle, aspect, what’s above you and what’s below you.

Beacon rescue in the afternoon, run as a scenario rather than a demonstration. You’ll search under time pressure, with a probe and a shovel, until it works.

The day ends by setting up camp. Site selection, tents, a stove, water from snow. Your instructors show you once, then you do it yourselves — because that’s the only version that sticks.

The morning starts with a plan built from the current advisory and what you saw yesterday.

Stability tests: how to run them, how to read them, and how much weight they actually deserve in a decision. This is the part most courses teach as a procedure and we teach as a judgment.

More terrain, more travel technique, and the running conversation about consequence — not just could this slide but what happens to me if it does.

You camp again — more efficiently than the night before, which you’ll notice.

This is the day the course exists for.

You wake up tired and a bit cold. That is the condition the course is designed to put you in.

You’ll plan the day and run it, with your instructors coaching rather than directing. The questions get handed back to you:

Is this terrain appropriate for today?

What would you close?

If your plan has a problem you’ll be asked a question rather than told an answer. That’s slower and it works better.

We pack out and finish with the debrief.

Is This For Me?

Is this for you?

If you’ve toured a season or two and want the certification with real depth behind it, yes.

If you’ve never toured, no — take Backcountry Essentials first. Two days, no camping, and you’ll get far more out of Level 1 the season after. We’d rather tell you that now than take your money twice.

What you need

Touring experience. This course assumes it. You should be able to skin, transition and travel without thinking hard about the equipment, because your attention needs to be on the snow rather than your bindings.

Skiing or riding ability. Intermediate to advanced — comfortable on steep blue to black terrain, in ungroomed and variable snow.

Solid fitness. You don’t need to be fast. You need to still be thinking clearly on the last morning — which is a different requirement, and the one people underestimate.

No prior avalanche education. We start at the beginning.

No winter camping experience. We teach it. But be honest with yourself about whether two cold nights appeals.

This course or the two-day one?

Take this course if there’s a bigger objective ahead — Baker, Alaska, Aconcagua, an expedition — or if you already know that the thing you most want to test is your own judgment when you’re worn down. It’s also the closest thing to expedition life available within an hour of Salt Lake City.

Take the two-day Avalanche Level 1 instead if you want the certification and a solid foundation, you’re fitting it around work, or you’re not sure yet how deep you want to go. It’s a complete course, not a reduced one, and the certificate is identical.

If the camping is the obstacle, take the two-day course. Don’t take a course you’ll spend three days wishing you weren’t on. Nobody will think less of you for it.

Who this is really for

People who’ve been touring with the advisory open on their phone, following the recommendation without fully understanding the reasoning, and want to close that gap.

People who want the certification for its own sake — as a prerequisite, for a partner’s peace of mind, or as a foundation to build on.

And people with something bigger ahead, who know that snow judgment is what everything else sits on.

Who this is not for

If you’ve never toured — Backcountry Essentials first.

If you want a guided powder day, book one. This is a course. You’ll spend real time standing still, digging, discussing and running scenarios. That’s the point, and it’s worth knowing before you arrive.

Essentials or Level 1?

Backcountry Essentials Level 1 with Winter Camping
Length 2 field days + evening session 3 field days, 2 nights + module + seminar
Certification No Yes
Prior touring Not needed Assumed
Best for Getting out safely with a partner Depth, certification, bigger objectives

Most people who do both do Essentials first and Level 1 a season later. Some go straight to Level 1 and do fine. Tell us what you’ve skied and we’ll give you a straight answer — including “wait a year” if that’s the honest one.

Age

The minimum age is 13. Anyone under 18 will need a parent or guardian to sign on their behalf.

Before You Go

Equipment is in Gear and Equipment. Flights, lodging and rentals are in Travel Planning***.*

Do the online module properly

The single most useful thing you can do before the course.

It’s self-paced, takes six to eight hours, and you do it at home. The field days are built on the assumption that you’ve done it, and the people who skip it spend day one catching up on material everyone else already has.

Give it real attention rather than clicking through. Don’t leave it to the night before the seminar.

The live evening seminar

Online, the night before the first field day. You’ll need a laptop or tablet and about an hour — a phone works but you’ll be squinting at maps.

You’ll meet your instructors, look at the current conditions together, and get the plan for the morning.

Where and when you’ll meet

Field days run in the Salt Lake or Provo area mountains. The exact venue is confirmed close to the course, once we know what the snowpack is doing — so don’t book anything that assumes a fixed trailhead.

Early starts. Winter days are short and the teaching needs the daylight.

Canyon parking usually requires a fee. Bring a card or cash.

If you’re new to touring gear

Put your skins on at home once, before the course. Learning how your bindings switch modes is much easier in a warm room than in a parking lot at 7am in February.

If you’ve rented, do it the evening you pick the gear up.

Getting ready

You don’t need to train for this. But if you have a few weeks, hiking uphill with a loaded pack is the most specific preparation there is. The course isn’t a fitness test — you’ll just learn more if the earlier days haven’t emptied you.

If you’ve never slept out in winter, one night in a tent close to home beforehand is worth more than any amount of reading. You’ll find out what you’re missing while it’s still easy to fix.

What to tell us when you register

  • What you’ve toured, honestly. It changes how your instructor pitches the first morning.
  • What equipment you need from us — avalanche gear, and camping equipment
  • Whether you run cold. Useful information, and it changes what we send you out with.
  • Injuries or medical conditions your instructors should know about

You’ll complete an application and sign an acknowledgement and acceptance of risk with WMG before the course. Please read it rather than clicking through.

Payment. In full when you register with WMG — card, PayPal, check or wire.

Cancellation. More than 30 days out: full credit toward a later date, or a refund less a 5% fee. 14 to 30 days: move to a later date, no refund. Fewer than 14 days: no refund or reschedule, for any reason. Full terms are on Dates and Prices.

Insurance. Not required, but strongly recommended. Rescue and evacuation costs are your responsibility, and a cold or a closed canyon road in the last two weeks costs you the course fee. Look for cover that includes both trip cancellation and backcountry rescue.

Minimum age: 13. Anyone under 18 needs a parent or guardian to sign.

Travel Planning

Travel planning

Most clients on this course fly in. Here’s what to sort out, in the order it matters.

Getting here

Salt Lake City International is about 35–45 minutes from the field areas, with direct flights from most of the country. It’s one of the easiest mountain destinations in the US to reach, and the drive from the airport to the canyons is short enough that people underestimate it.

You’ll need a car. Rideshare into the canyons works but is unreliable coming back out, and the meeting times are early.

Fitting it around work

The course runs Saturday to Monday, inside Presidents’ Day weekend.

Arrive by Friday afternoon — the seminar is that evening. The course finishes Monday afternoon, after you pack out and debrief, so book a Tuesday flight home. A late Monday flight is possible, but you’d be betting on an on-time finish on a short winter day. Drive in and the course fits inside the three-day weekend without a day off work. Fly in and it costs you about half a day on each end.

Where to stay

The night before matters most — the seminar is that evening and the first field day starts early.

In Salt Lake City: more choice, cheaper, and about 30–45 minutes from the canyons in the morning.

In the Cottonwood Canyons — Alta, Snowbird, Solitude, Brighton: closer to the field areas and a shorter, less stressful morning drive. More expensive, and canyon road closures for avalanche control are a real possibility on a storm morning, which cuts both ways depending on which side of the closure you’re sleeping.

Tell us your dates and we’ll say which suits that course better.

You need a bed the night before day one and the night after you come out. The nights in between are in a tent.

Renting touring equipment

Book it before you fly. In a busy season, and especially around the holiday weekends, the good touring setups go early.

Rent your touring setup in Salt Lake City, and sort it out before you fly. Skimo Co is our main rental shop; the others are good alternatives, especially for splitboards. Avalanche gear comes from us and is included in the course rate.

Skimo Co — our main rental shop. 2477 E Fort Union Blvd, Cottonwood Heights · 801-942-9084. Touring skis, boots and skins. In store, first come, first served, Monday to Saturday 11am–6pm — pick up the day before. No splitboards.

evo Salt Lake City — 660 S 400 W, Suite 300 · 385-379-3172. Ski and splitboard packages with boots. Booking online ahead is cheaper.

Salty Peaks — 3055 E 3300 S, Millcreek · 801-467-8000. Touring skis and splitboards, by the day or the week.

University of Utah Campus Recreation — 1836 Student Life Way · 801-581-8516. Open to the public; touring skis and splitboards. Snow rentals stop in mid-April.

Wasatch Touring — 702 E 100 S · 801-359-9361. Call ahead to confirm what’s available.

White Pine Touring (Park City) — 1790 Bonanza Dr · 435-649-8710. Alpine touring and telemark packages.

If you rent one thing, make it boots that fit. More people have a bad course because of boots than because of skis, and it is the hardest problem to fix at 7am in a parking lot.

Avalanche gear — beacon, shovel, probe and pack — comes from us and is included in the course rate. Tell us what you need when you register.

Camping equipment — tents, sleeping bags, pads, stove and cooking kit — is also included. Tell us what you need.

Insurance

Not required, but strongly recommended. Under WMG’s terms, rescue and evacuation costs are yours, and cancelling fewer than 14 days before the course — for illness, injury or a travel delay — forfeits the course fee. Look for cover that includes both trip cancellation and backcountry rescue and evacuation. Many standard travel and health policies include neither.

If you’re building a longer trip

Clients regularly add a guided ski day either side of a course, while the learning is fresh. Ask and we’ll tell you whether conditions justify it.

Gear and Equipment

Gear and equipment

What we provide

  • WMG instructors
  • The online module and all course materials
  • Avalanche beacon, shovel, probe and pack, if you need them
  • Camping equipment — tents, sleeping bags, pads, stove and cooking kit. Tell us what you need when you register.
  • Cooking coordination in camp

What you bring

Your touring setup

  • Alpine touring, telemark or splitboard equipment with skins
  • Ski or snowboard boots
  • Poles with powder baskets

Clothing

  • Non-cotton base layers, top and bottom
  • An insulating layer — fleece, synthetic or down
  • Waterproof, windproof shell jacket and pants or bibs
  • Wool socks, and a spare pair
  • Two pairs of gloves — warm ones and a lighter pair for going uphill. You will want both.
  • Warm hat
  • Sunglasses and goggles
  • Helmet, recommended
  • Sunscreen

A headlamp with fresh batteries, and a spare set. Non-negotiable — you’ll be cooking, melting snow and moving around camp in the dark.

Food and water

  • Two litres of water per day. Bladders freeze — bottles are more reliable.
  • Lunch and quick energy snacks for every field day
  • A thermos of something hot, when it’s cold

All your food for three days and two nights. We coordinate the cooking; you supply what you’ll eat. We’ll send guidance on quantities and what actually works in the cold — this catches people out more than any other part of the kit.

Clothing for sleeping out in winter is warmer than clothing for a day tour. Full list sent on registration.

On borrowing versus buying

If you already know you want to camp in winter regularly, buy the sleeping bag. It’s the one piece where borrowed kit most often disappoints, and a bag rated optimistically is the difference between sleeping and enduring.

Everything else — borrow from us the first time and decide afterwards. Your instructor will tell you honestly what’s worth owning, and they have no reason to point you at anything in particular.

A note on February

We schedule the camping course in February deliberately. By mid-winter the snowpack is deep enough to build a decent camp in, and the days run more than an hour longer than in mid-December — which matters when you’re sleeping out twice and still expected to think clearly on the third morning.

It will still be cold. Tell us if you run cold — it’s useful information and it changes what we send you out with.

Not sure about a piece of your equipment?

Send us a photo. We’d rather sort it out a week early than at the trailhead.

Daily Life on the Course

“Take care of the mountain, and the mountain will take care of you.” It is the Benegas Brothers’ motto, and the rule we climb by.

Daily life on the course

Two nights out in the Wasatch in February. Here’s what a day and a night actually look like.

The shape of a day

Field days follow the daylight. In February that means early starts and getting back to camp by late afternoon. The light goes fast in the canyons.

Morning. Stoves on, snow melted, breakfast, then a plan for the day built from the advisory and what you saw yesterday. Breaking a winter camp takes longer than people expect, and your instructors build that time in.

In the field. Observations, terrain, stability tests, travel and rescue practice, as described in Day by Day. You carry what you need for the day. On moving days you carry camp too.

Back in camp. The work doesn’t stop when the skins come off. Dry layers on, water on the stove, dinner, and a short debrief while the day is still fresh.

Camp

Your instructors choose the site using the same criteria you’re learning to apply all day: what’s overhead, wind, exposure, and what happens if it snows overnight. Expect them to explain the choice, and then to ask you to make the next one.

Camp is shared work. Digging platforms, setting tents, building a kitchen area and keeping the stove running. You’re shown once, then you do it yourselves.

Water

Every litre you drink or cook with comes from melted snow. It’s slow, and it’s the job that most often gets left too late. Plan on stove time morning and evening, and keep your bottles inside your sleeping bag overnight so they don’t freeze.

Meals

You bring your own food for three days and two nights. We coordinate the cooking and supply the stove and cooking kit. Before the course we’ll send guidance on quantities and what works in the cold.

The short version: more calories than you think, food you can eat with cold hands, and something hot in the evening. Anything that freezes solid is a poor choice.

Sleeping warm

The nights are part of the course, so it’s worth doing them well. A few things make most of the difference:

  • Go to bed warm and dry. Change out of damp layers before you get cold, not after.
  • Eat before you sleep. Your body heats the bag.
  • Insulate from the ground. Most of the cold comes from below. Use the pads you’re given properly.
  • Keep tomorrow inside the bag. Gloves, liners, batteries and your water bottle.
  • Get up if you need to pee. Lying awake holding it costs more warmth than the trip outside.

Tell us if you run cold. It changes what we send you out with.

Toilets and hygiene

There are no facilities. Your instructors will brief you on how human waste is handled at the site. The rules vary by area, and in parts of the Wasatch they are strict. Bring hand sanitizer and a small personal kit.

Staying in touch

Phone coverage in the canyons is patchy, and batteries die fast in the cold. Keep your phone warm, carry a small battery pack, and leave the course dates and the WMG office contact with someone at home.

When it gets hard

At some point on the third morning you’ll be tired and cold, and the plan will need a decision. That’s the course working.

If you’re struggling with cold hands, a bad night or a gear problem, tell your instructor early. Small problems fixed at 7am don’t become big ones at 2pm. Your instructors make the safety calls, and if conditions or someone’s condition means the plan has to change, it changes.

What to Budget For

What to budget for

The course

Rate
Avalanche Level 1 — With Winter Camping · 3 field days, 2 nights out $1,150 per person

Minimum two clients for a course to run. 2–4 clients per guide.

What’s included — and what isn’t

Included

  • Included: the online module, the live evening seminar, all field days of instruction, certified instructors, and avalanche beacon, shovel, probe and pack if you need them.
  • Also included: tents, sleeping bags, pads, stove and cooking kit, and cooking coordination in camp.

Not included

  • Touring equipment — Rented in Salt Lake City if you don’t own it. Skis, boots and skins, or a splitboard setup.
  • Your food — All food for three days and two nights.
  • Lodging — The night before day one and the night after you come out.
  • Car hire — You need one. Rideshare into the canyons is unreliable coming out.
  • Canyon parking — Usually a fee. Card or cash.
  • Flights — Salt Lake City International, about 35–45 minutes out.
  • Gratuities — Customary — 15–25% is standard. Cash is always appreciated, and every WMG guide also accepts Venmo.
  • Trip insurance — Not required, strongly recommended. Protects the course fee if you cancel late, and covers rescue or evacuation, which is your cost.
The realistic total

For an out-of-state client: the $1,150, plus two nights of lodging, a rental car, touring gear rental for three days, and three days of food. For a client who already owns touring equipment and lives within driving distance, it’s close to $1,150 plus food.

Lodging is a smaller line than on most trips — you’re in a tent for two of the nights, and the tent comes from us.

The honest note: the biggest variable is whether you own a touring setup. If you don’t, rental is the second-largest line on this page after the course itself, and it’s worth pricing before you book.

Payment and cancellation

Full payment is due when you register with WMG. Cancel more than 30 days out and you can take full credit toward a later date, or a refund less a 5% fee. Between 14 and 30 days you can move dates but not get a refund. Inside 14 days the fee is not refundable, for any reason. Full terms are on Dates and Prices.

Why it costs more than the two-day course

A third field day, two nights of instructor time in the field, and the camping equipment. It is not a premium version of the same product — it’s a longer one.

The certificate is identical. If the two-day Avalanche Level 1 is what fits, take that one.

Your Questions

More questions? Choosing between Backcountry Essentials, the two-day Level 1 and this course is covered in the Avalanche Education FAQ. Booking, payment, cancellation, insurance and tipping are in the General FAQ. Dates, rates and cancellation terms for this course are on Dates and Prices.

An AAI Level 1 certificate of completion from the American Avalanche Institute, on a curriculum approved by the American Avalanche Association (A3). You earn it by completing the online module, the evening seminar and all field days. It’s the same certificate as our two-day course.

A third field day and two nights of winter camping. The certification is identical. The camping course exists to put you in the state most real backcountry mistakes are made in — tired, cold, and committed to a plan — and see what your judgment does there.

This one if you have a bigger objective ahead or specifically want the third day under load. Otherwise the two-day Avalanche Level 1 is a complete course with the same certificate. Tell us what you’ve skied and what you’re building toward, and we’ll give you a straight answer.

Yes — the two nights are the course, not an option. If camping isn’t for you, take the two-day course. Same certificate, no explanation required.

By mid-winter the snowpack is deep enough to build a decent camp in, and the days run more than an hour longer than in mid-December — which matters when you sleep out twice and still need to think clearly on day three. The nights are still cold. It also falls on Presidents’ Day weekend, so it needs no vacation days.

Yes, and you should be comfortable on steep blue to black terrain. This course assumes both. You should be able to skin, transition, and travel without thinking hard about the equipment, because your attention needs to be on the snow. If you’ve never toured, take Backcountry Essentials first — two days, no camping, and you’ll get much more from Level 1 the season after.

No. We start at the beginning.

No. We provide the beacon, shovel, probe, and pack. Bring your own if you have them — learning on the gear you’ll actually use is better.

You need one for the course, but it can be rented. Skimo Co is our main rental shop; the Travel Planning page lists the others and what each one rents. Sort it out before you fly — good setups go early in a busy season.

No. Tents, sleeping bags, pads, stove and cooking kit are all available from us. Tell us what you need when you register.

Fit enough to move uphill for consecutive days carrying more than a day-tour pack, and still be thinking clearly on the last morning. You don’t need to be fast.

Cold enough that it matters, which is the point. We’ll send a kit list that accounts for it, and equipment rated for the conditions is available from us. Tell us if you run cold — it’s useful information and it changes what we send you out with.

No. You bring your own. We coordinate the cooking; you supply what you’ll eat, and we’ll send guidance on quantities and what works in the cold.

2–4 clients per guide.

Wasatch Mountain Guides (WMG) instructors — assessing conditions on the morning of each field day.

Yes. Splitboarders are on every course we run.

We teach in weather, and bad weather makes some of the instruction better. If conditions become unsafe or unworkable, we’ll change the venue or talk to you about rescheduling.

High danger is instructive, not disqualifying. It changes the terrain we use. Your instructors choose ground that suits the day’s hazard, and the reasoning behind that choice is part of what you’re there to learn.

No — and be careful of anyone who says a course will. It gives you a framework, a vocabulary, and supervised practice. Judgment comes from using them over seasons.

The most common pattern in avalanche accidents is people with training who got comfortable. Avalanche terrain carries risk that cannot be removed. What this course does is make you better at recognizing it and deciding what to do about it.

If you drive in, yes — it runs Saturday–Monday inside Presidents’ Day weekend. If you fly in, arrive by Friday afternoon for the evening seminar and plan on a Tuesday flight home; a late Monday flight is possible, but you’d be betting on an on-time finish. (See Dates and Prices.)

Use it. A season of touring with the framework you’ve just been given is worth more than another course immediately.

When you want more: the six-day Backcountry Ski Mentorship ends with you leading a tour under supervision. And Level 1 is the foundation under Mount Baker, Valdez, the Alaska Range and the international expeditions.

Dates & Prices

Dates and prices

Rates

Rate
Avalanche Level 1 — With Winter Camping · 3 field days, 2 nights out + module + seminar $1,150 per person

The same AAI Level 1 certificate as our two-day course.

Minimum two clients for a course to run. 2–4 clients per guide.

2026–27 dates

Three field days, two nights out

Sat 13 – Mon 15 February 2027Presidents’ Day weekend — the course itself needs no vacation days. Mid-winter snowpack and longer days than an early-season date.

Open

Complete the online module before you arrive. The live seminar runs the evening before the first field day.

One scheduled date this season. It runs with a minimum of two clients. If the date doesn’t work for you, ask about a private one. Looking for the two-day course without camping? See Avalanche Level 1.

Private and custom dates are available for groups of two or more, December through February.

What’s included — and what isn’t

Included

  • The online module, the live evening seminar, all field days of instruction, certified instructors, and an avalanche beacon, shovel, probe, and pack if you need them
  • The course also includes tents, sleeping bags, pads, a stove, and a cooking kit

Not included

  • Touring equipment, your food, lodging, car hire, canyon parking and flights. Full breakdown on What to Budget For.

Fitting it around work

Sat 13 – Mon 15 February — Presidents’ Day weekend. Arrive by Friday afternoon for the evening seminar. Drive in and it needs no vacation days. Fly in and plan on a Tuesday flight home, or a late Monday flight if you accept the risk of a late finish.

How to book

  1. Contact us with your dates and how many of you there are.
  2. We’ll confirm availability and send you the registration link.
  3. You register directly with Wasatch Mountain Guides. The link is WMG-branded; that’s expected. You’ll complete the application, sign the acceptance of risk, and pay in full there.
  4. You’ll get a confirmation email with the online module access, the seminar link, a full kit list, and your instructor’s contact details.
Payment and cancellation

Payment. Full payment is due when you register with Wasatch Mountain Guides — card, PayPal, check or wire.

If you cancel

If we cancel

Before the course, for weather, hazard or conditions: move to a later date, or take a credit that never expires.

Before the course, for low enrollment: WMG will contact you as early as possible. You choose a full refund, a credit or a later date, or running it as a private course at a reduced rate.

Partway through: partial credit, based on the time you spent in the field.

Once a course starts, there are no refunds for weather or conditions. Your guide will change, shorten or turn the day around when the mountain calls for it. That is the job, and it’s the judgment you’re paying for.

Guides may remove anyone whose ability or conduct puts themselves or the team at risk. There is no refund in that case, and any cost of leaving is yours.

Rescue and evacuation costs are your responsibility. We strongly recommend trip insurance that covers both cancellation and backcountry rescue and evacuation. Many standard travel and health policies cover neither.

Full terms: Wasatch Mountain Guides Reservation, Cancellation and Refund Policy.

When you cancel What happens
More than 30 days before Full credit toward a later date, or a refund less a 5% fee
14 to 30 days before Move to a later date, subject to availability. No refund.
Fewer than 14 days before No refund or reschedule — for any reason, including injury, illness, weather or travel delays
Most avalanche courses send you home to a warm bed.

The decisions that hurt people aren’t made on the first morning, rested and fresh. They’re made late in a trip — cold, short of sleep, with a plan you’re already committed to and a partner who doesn’t want to turn around.

Price$1,150 per person
Private & Custom Your dates. Your team.

This trip can run privately, on the dates that work for you.

Scheduled departures
  • Sat 13 – Mon 15 February 2027Open

Questions first? Ask a guide

Location:
Wasatch, Utah
Group:
2–4 clients per guide
Duration:
3 days, 2 nights
Skill:
Assumed. If you’ve never toured, take Backcountry Essentials first.
Pricing

All prices are in US dollars.

Most avalanche courses send you home to a warm bed.

The decisions that hurt people aren’t made on the first morning, rested and fresh. They’re made late in a trip — cold, short of sleep, with a plan you’re already committed to and a partner who doesn’t want to turn around.

Request a Place

Private & Custom

Make Avalanche Level 1 with Winter Camping your own expedition

Every trip we run can also run privately: on your dates, with your people, built around your goal. Same guides, same safety standard as our scheduled departures.

Your dates

We set the departure around your calendar, not the other way round.

Your people

Family, friends, a company team, or just you and a guide.

Your goal

Training for a bigger peak, a winter or speed attempt, a film, or a route that runs from summit to ocean.

Your price

Private trips are quoted for your group size, dates and plan.

Plan a Private Trip
See what private can look like

Professional Mountain Standards

Your guide is a professional mountain guide from Wasatch Mountain Guides (WMG).

AMGA — American Mountain Guides Association logo
IFMGA / UIAGM — International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations logo
AAGM — Asociación Argentina de Guías de Montaña logo

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