Backcountry Essentials

Before you arrive

Read the advisory before day one

You’ll get an email with links to the current avalanche advisory and the forecast for your dates.

Read them. You won’t be tested. But the first conversation of day one starts there, and arriving having already looked means you get more out of the morning.

Where and when you’ll meet

8:00 AM on both field days, at the mouth of Big or Little Cottonwood Canyon.

We confirm the exact meeting point the day before, once we know what the snowpack and the weather are doing. Don’t book anything for the drive that assumes a fixed trailhead.

Parking at most canyon locations requires a fee — bring a card or cash.

The evening session

Held online, between the two field days. You’ll get a link. You need a laptop or tablet and about an hour — a phone screen will work but you’ll be squinting at maps.

If you’re new to touring gear

Put your skins on at home once, before day one. Learning how your bindings switch modes is much easier in a warm room than in a parking lot at 8 AM.

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

Getting ready

You don’t need to train for this course. But if you have a few weeks and want to arrive comfortable rather than surviving, hiking uphill with a light pack is the most specific preparation there is.

Your two days

Day one — the framework

8:00 AM, Big or Little Cottonwood Canyon. Which one depends on the snowpack; we’ll confirm the meeting point the day before.

The morning conversation. We start with what the advisory actually said and what it means for today. Not the summary line — the reasoning underneath it. This is the habit the whole course is built on.

At the trailhead. Transceiver procedures. How to check a beacon properly, and why the check happens every single time. Equipment familiarisation for anyone new to touring gear.

Companion rescue. A review, then a scenario. You’ll run a beacon search under time pressure, with a probe and a shovel, until it works. Watching a demonstration and performing a rescue are different things, and only one of them is useful at the moment it matters.

Uphill travel. Terrain selection and track-setting on the way up — where to put the skin track, and why the efficient line and the safe line are usually the same one. Kick turns, which cost new tourers more energy than anything else. Group communication and spacing.

Downhill. Safe zones. Skiing one at a time. Where to regroup and where not to. How to run a transition without standing in a bad place for ten minutes.

Debrief, in small groups, using the checklist you’ll keep using for years.

It’s a lot for one day. We say so out loud, and then we say it again at the debrief.

The evening in between

A short online session, from your own kitchen.

This is where tour planning gets taught properly — with maps, time to think, and nobody’s hands going numb. You’ll work through how a plan actually gets built, and you’ll leave the session with one you’ve made yourself.

Day two — you plan it, we coach it

Morning briefing, using the checklist. The current avalanche report. Your tour plan. And the two questions you’ll be asking yourself for the rest of your touring life:

Is this terrain appropriate for today’s conditions?

What terrain would I close today?

Your guide coaches rather than directs. If your plan has a problem, you’ll be asked a question rather than told an answer — that’s slower and it works better.

In the field. Measuring slope angles, so that “that looks about thirty-five degrees” becomes something you can check. Thinking through consequence — not just could this slide but what happens to me if it does. Practising travel techniques that reduce exposure, and understanding which ones actually help.

Ongoing terrain identification throughout the day, out loud, as a habit.

Final debrief. What you’d do differently. What to work on next. And an honest conversation about where your judgment currently sits — which is the most valuable thing you’ll take home.

Weather

If conditions make a day unsafe or unproductive, we’ll change the venue or the plan. If they make it impossible, we’ll talk to you about rescheduling.

We would rather move a course than run one in conditions that teach the wrong lessons.

Getting here and where to stay

Getting here

Salt Lake City International is about 35–45 minutes from the Cottonwood canyons, with direct flights from most of the country. Fly in Friday evening and you’re at the trailhead Saturday morning.

You’ll need a car. Rideshare into the canyons works but is unreliable coming back out, and both field days start at 8:00 AM.

Where to stay

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

In the Cottonwood Canyons — Alta, Snowbird, Solitude, Brighton: closer, and a shorter 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 better.

If you’re building a longer trip

Clients regularly add a guided ski day after the course, while the learning is fresh — the Monday is the natural slot if you’re already out here. Ask and we’ll tell you whether conditions justify it.

The short answer

If you can ski ungroomed blue and most black diamond terrain at a resort with confidence, and you can move uphill for a few hours without falling apart, this course will work for you.

You do not need any backcountry experience.

What you actually need

Skiing or riding ability. Intermediate to advanced. You should be comfortable off-piste, in variable snow, on terrain that hasn’t been groomed.

Backcountry snow is rarely the perfect powder in the photographs — a lot of the time it’s wind-affected, breakable, or heavy. You’ll ski better and learn more if you aren’t fighting for survival on every turn.

Fitness. Reasonable aerobic fitness. Expect to be moving uphill for one to two hours at a stretch, carrying a light pack. You do not need to be fast. You need to be able to keep going while also paying attention, because the learning happens while you’re tired.

No prior avalanche education. We start at the beginning.

No touring experience. Though if you’ve toured a few times, some of the equipment handling will come faster.

Who this is really for

People who have been skiing at resorts for years, have looked at the terrain beyond the boundary, and want to go there without being a liability — to themselves or to whoever they’re with.

People who’ve been following friends into the backcountry and have quietly realised they don’t actually understand the decisions being made on their behalf.

And people planning bigger objectives later — a glaciated peak, a ski mountaineering trip, an expedition — who know that snow judgment is the foundation everything else sits on.

Who this is not for

If you’ve never skied off-piste, spend a season doing that first. This course will teach you far more when you’re not simultaneously learning to ski the snow. Come back next winter and you’ll get triple the value.

If you want the certification, this isn’t it — see below.

If you’re looking for a guided powder day, book a guided ski day instead. This is a course. You will spend real time standing still, digging, discussing, and running scenarios. That’s the point, but it’s worth knowing before you arrive.

Essentials or Avalanche Level 1?

Both are good courses. They do different jobs.

Level 1 assumes you can already tour — skin, transition and travel without thinking about the equipment. That’s what this course teaches you.

Most people who do both do Essentials first and Level 1 a season later. Some go straight to Level 1 and do fine. If you’re not sure, 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 same policy as Wasatch Mountain Guides, who operate the course. Anyone under 18 will need a parent or guardian to sign on their behalf.

The minimum age is 13.

Where this leads

Essentials → Avalanche Level 1 → Backcountry Ski Mentorship → ski mountaineering descents, and for some clients Mount Baker and Alaska.

Gear and equipment

What we provide

• WMG guides
• Avalanche beacon, shovel, probe and pack, if you need them
• All course instruction and materials

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

Food and water

• Two litres of water per day. Bladders freeze — bottles are more reliable.
• Lunch and quick energy snacks for both days
• A thermos of something hot is worth carrying when it’s cold

A word on standing still

This is a course, not a ski tour. You’ll spend real time stationary — digging, discussing, watching a rescue scenario, listening at a debrief.

Standing still is much colder than moving. Bring one more layer than you’d take on a day of skiing, and take the warm gloves seriously.

Rentals

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

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.

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.

A note on boots

If you’re renting one thing, make it boots that fit. More people have a bad two days because of boots than because of skis, and it’s the hardest problem to fix at 8 AM in a parking lot.

Thinking about buying gear?

Don’t — not for this course. Come, rent, and find out what you actually like before you spend money on it.

Your guide will tell you honestly what’s worth buying and what isn’t, and they have no reason to point you at anything in particular. That conversation on day two is worth more than any amount of reading reviews.

Not sure about something you own?

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

Rates and booking

Rate

$550 per person.

Minimum two clients for the course to run. Up to four clients per guide; teams of five or six run with two guides.

2027 dates

The online evening session runs between the two field days.

Every date is a Saturday and Sunday, so the course costs you no time off work.

Two scheduled courses this season, and each runs with a minimum of two clients. If your dates don’t line up, ask — private and custom dates are available for groups of two or more, any time from December through April.

What’s included — and what isn’t

Where this sits against the alternative

Avalanche Level 1 is $615, $65 more than this course, and it awards the certification.

It also assumes you can already tour. If you can’t, Level 1 is the wrong course at any price — you’d spend it fighting your bindings instead of learning snow. That’s the whole reason this course exists.

If you can already tour and you want the certificate, go straight to Level 1 and save yourself a step. Tell us what you’ve skied and we’ll say which one is right.

How to book

1. Contact us with your dates, how many of you there are, and what you’ve skied.
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 meeting details, the evening session link, and your guide’s contact information.

What to tell us when you register

• What you’ve skied, honestly — it changes how your guide pitches day one
• Whether you’ve toured before, and how much
• What equipment you need from us — avalanche gear
• Whether you’re on skis or a splitboard
• Injuries or medical conditions your guide 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.

More questions? Choosing between this course and Avalanche Level 1 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 Rates & Booking.