Location: Salt Lake City

Date: Thursday, December 12, 2024

Time: 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM MST

Course Overview

Course fees include a $15 CPR certification fee.

Avoidance is the best way not to get caught in an avalanche. However, accidents happen, and we all need to know what to do in the event of an avalanche burial. You only have a few minutes to save your partner’s life if they are buried in an avalanche, and performing an effective rescue is difficult. You cannot rely on search and rescue, ski patrol, outside rescue, or other groups to save your partner; it’s up to you to have the skills to perform an avalanche rescue. Furthermore, it is essential to have the skills to treat an avalanche victim in the field once they have been extricated from the snow. Understanding fundamental wilderness medicine skills and CPR can save your partner’s life.

This eight-hour on-snow course teaches you how to execute the proper steps in an avalanche rescue, how to use your avalanche rescue gear efficiently, and essential wilderness medicine skills such as CPR, improvised splint building, recognizing & treating hypothermia, and more. With small student-to-instructor ratios, we ensure that each student receives individual coaching and feedback on their technique and that each student can run through multiple real-life scenarios. Additionally, after signing up for this course, you will gain access to our Student Portal, which includes links to the pre-course work, detailed course information, avalanche resources, and more.

Who Should Take this Course?

This class is for skiers, snowboarders, snowshoers, snowmobilers, snowbikers, and anyone who goes into the backcountry in the winter. This course is designed as an introductory rescue and first aid course for those new to the backcountry. It can also be a refresher for those not regularly practicing these skills or someone looking to learn the most up-to-date rescue and first aid techniques.

What is Required for this Course?

You must provide your own mode of transportation (skis or splitboard with skins, snowshoes, snowmobile, etc.). Please come prepared with your own avalanche rescue equipment (beacon/shovel/probe), and if you need to borrow these three items, please let us know so we can make arrangements.

Course Goals

• Understand the steps and procedures of an avalanche rescue.

• Understand how to use an avalanche transceiver, probe, and shovel properly.

• Perform a full avalanche burial rescue in less than 10 minutes.

• Understand how to continue practicing rescue skills individually and with partners.

• Understand how to efficiently transition from avalanche rescue to wilderness CPR during a rescue scenario. 

• Understand how to perform single-rescuer and multi-rescuer CPR. 

• Understand how to recognize the signs & symptoms of various stages of hypothermia and how to manage them in the field. 

• Understand the basic principles of identifying and stabilizing orthopedic injuries in the field. 

• Feel confident building improvised splints with materials commonly carried in backcountry packs. 

• Understand what first aid supplies are required to adequately perform CPR, treat hypothermia, and build splints in the field. 

Cancellation policy

Our cancellation policy can be found here. If you have any questions, please email education@utahavalanchecenter.org

Winter Weather and Avalanche Hazard Policy

In the event of extreme winter weather and/or dangerous avalanche conditions, the UAC reserves the right to reschedule courses to maintain the safety of our students and instructors. If a course needs to be rescheduled, we will work with students to find the best rescheduled date and refund students who are unable to attend.