# AIRES 1



## dirtbagpinner (Apr 25, 2005)

Ryde164 said:


> I have a group of people that are interested in taking an AIRES Avy1 class (maybe even enough for a "private" group). So far I have not seen anything scheduled on the avalanche.org education calendar. Anyone know who is offering these courses and when this year?
> 
> Thanks!


In general, learn about AIARE here: American Institute for Avalance Research and Education (AIARE) - Home

AIARE course providers: AIARE Avalanche Course Providers

Local to you: Alpine World Ascents: Avalanche Level 1


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## st2eelpot (Apr 15, 2008)

Colorado Mountain School out of Estes park does a fantastic avi course series- they do all 3. Total Climbing | Home

Only thing that sucks about AIARE Avi 1 is it's basically- here's a beacon, shovel, and probe. Here is how you use them. They don't go into the "go/no-go" decision making aside from identifying terrain features. 

Gotta wait until Avi 2 (5 day course when I took it) to really get into the science of stuff (snow crystals, metamorphosis, temperature gradients, bonding strengths, etc.) and hence the go/no-go decision. 

Not until Avi 3 do they completely focus on long-term conditions, analysis, and decision making.

Cheers,


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## dirtbagpinner (Apr 25, 2005)

st2eelpot said:


> Colorado Mountain School out of Estes park does a fantastic avi course series- they do all 3. Total Climbing | Home


True enough, though the CMS is based in Boulder (Iike Alpine World Ascents)



st2eelpot said:


> Only thing that sucks about AIARE Avi 1 is it's basically- here's a beacon, shovel, and probe. Here is how you use them. They don't go into the "go/no-go" decision making aside from identifying terrain features.


This is false; an AIARE L1 provides far more than that. They meet and exceed recommended L1 course guidelines as published by the American Avalanche Association

American Institute for Avalance Research and Education (AIARE) - AIARE Level 1: Decision Making in Avalanche Terrain

Note that you will find far more than "here's a beacon/shovel/probe" there; in particular, there's a section concerning Decision support Tools." For AIARE specifically, this is taught using the Decision Making Framework (DMF), which covers the "go/no-go" decision. If you didn't learn this from the CMS course you apparently attended, it's probably because you weren't paying attention -- they teach it.



st2eelpot said:


> Gotta wait until Avi 2 (5 day course when I took it) to really get into the science of stuff (snow crystals, metamorphosis, temperature gradients, bonding strengths, etc.) and hence the go/no-go decision.


Decisions that are rules-based do not require "the science of stuff" to make, and that's what an L1 provides: rules-based decision-making. You put into practice what you've learned in an L1 and begin to see more days in the bc, develop an (for lack of a better term) intuitive feel for the snow and what the snow is telling you, and take an L2 course.

American Institute for Avalance Research and Education (AIARE) - AIARE Level 2: Analyzing Snow Stability and Avalanche Hazard



st2eelpot said:


> Not until Avi 3 do they completely focus on long-term conditions, analysis, and decision making.


Please, review the guidelines that the A3 publishes, and review the AIARE curricula descriptions at the AIARE website (noted above). Your statements are incorrect, as even a cursory read of the aforementioned materials will show.


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## st2eelpot (Apr 15, 2008)

*AIARE*

Well if they've redone the coursework, fantastic then. When I took the course, they basically said that if we wanted to make a decision to go- go with someone who know more than we did. I took the course in 99 with CMS. 

I still have the entire course paperwork and guidelines in my room, so I see no need to really argue about this.

I do know that they drastically revamped much of the courses in... 2005? so if they changed things since I took the course, all the better for them.


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## Ryde164 (Jun 7, 2007)

Although I managed to spell AIARE wrong, I did take the level 1 course in New Hampshire (Tuckerman's Ravine) somewhere around '05. A good number of my friends have been asking me about getting into the backcountry after seeing some of my hut trip photos. The reason I ask specifically about AIARE is because of how thorough the class was in describing the go/ nogo decision making processes and espescially group dynamics when I took it. The course I went to also dealt out a good sense of reality and hammered home the risks you take by making poor decisions. 

I have had friends take other "short" 2 day courses before joining me on some low angle fun, but I don't feel that they got out of their course what I got out of the AIARE curriculum. 

I'm sure things may have changed over the 6 years between our classes, its good to know they have been changing towards more thorough education. 

Anyways I do appreciate the help finding classes around town. Maybe I'll post the groups reaction to their class after they go through it!


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