AIARE Avalanche Level 1 Course
Mt. Rainier National Park

Why Choose This Program?

There are few things like experiencing the mountains during the winter. The beauty, the majesty, the solitude, the vastness. To safely experience the mountains during the winter we need specific skills. Whether we are backcountry skiing/snowboarding, snowshoeing, or climbing our ability to assess avalanche hazard and travel in avalanche terrain is paramount to our safety and success in reaching our objectives.

IMG is proud to present avalanche education curriculum from the American Institute of Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE). Join IMG's team of certified avalanche educators who work as avalanche professionals throughout the United States to learn and hone your avalanche skills.

Perfect Venues

IMG strives to maximize our learning time in the field. We'll begin each field day at IMG's headquarters in Ashford, WA, then travel to the Paradise area on the south side of Mt Rainier for our field sessions. NOTE: Specific meetup locations and times will be disseminated in pre-course contact.

Lowest Instructor to Student Ratio

IMG has always focused on providing the best experience and learning environment for its students. Our avalanche courses will be taught at a 1:5 Instructor to Student ratio. Such a low ratio allows more instructor-student interaction, allows more opportunities for students to lead in a group environment, and provide a more personalized educational experience.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the course you will be able to develop a plan for traveling in avalanche terrain, demonstrate the ability to identify avalanche terrain, effectively use a decision-making framework to make terrain choices in a group setting, demonstrate effective companion rescue, be qualified (in conjunction with AIARE Avalanche Rescue Course) to participate in AIARE Rec 2 or AIARE Pro 1.

Training and Fitness

To learn more about training for this course, please read our Training Suggestions for Mt. Rainier.