AST 1 Next Steps

Now that you have completed your AST 1 course it’s time to think about how to put your newfound learnings to use. Here is some advice on what you need to do to keep learning about being safe in avalanche terrain.

Learning resources

Use the following resources to help you learn more about avalanches and local tours:

  • Advanced textbook: Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain by Bruce Tremper

  • Explore the Learn and Resources tabs on the avalanche.ca website and the menu items on the Mountain Weather Forecast on the same website

  • Banff National Park website (ATES ratings and more)

  • Guidebooks: Alpine Ski Tours in the Canadian Rockies by Chic Scott and Mark Klassen (hard to find at the moment!); Confessions of a Ski Bum guidebook series.

  • Maps: Wapta Icefields and Bow Summit by Mark Klassen, TJ Neault, and Chic Scott is a touring-specific map. Maps for other areas available at local outdoor shops.

  • Manufacturer’s websites should have downloads available for your transceiver manual.

Before your first backcountry trip

Before you go into the backcountry you need to do some additional self-directed training:

  • Practice your avalanche rescue skills

    • Read the manual for your transceiver and learn how all its functions work.

    • Practice with your transceiver and be able to find two burials in 4 minutes or less, in an area 100 m x 100 m, starting with your transceiver in its harness with your outer clothing zipped up.

    • Practice getting your probe out of the pack and assembled with your pack back on in 15 seconds.

    • Practice systematic probing technique. Have someone bury a backpack as deeply as possible and get them to mark a spot to begin probing 1 to 3 m away from where the pack is buried.

    • Practice getting your shovel out of your pack and assembled with your pack back on in 15 seconds.

    • Practice conveyer belt shovelling with at least 2 other people in a hardened snowback. Dig a hole 1.5 m deep x 2 m wide.

    • Put all this training together in a scenario with 2 transceivers buried in packs as deeply as possible in a 100 m x 100 m area. Start with working in a group of 2-4 others but also work your way towards doing it all yourself. Try to find both and uncover at least one within 10 minutes.

  • Practice your downhill riding skills. This is a fun one. Make sure you are comfortable in different snow conditions and terrain like you would find in the backcountry. Being a competent rider means you are safer in the backcountry because you have less chance of triggering an avalanche if you don’t fall while riding, a better chance of escaping an avalanche if you trigger one, and are able to respond more quickly to help a friend caught in an avalanche.

  • Practice your uphill touring skills. Get familiar with putting skins on and taking them off and practice doing that as quickly as possible so you can respond to an avalanche incident fast. Be able to transition in under 2 minutes. Get fit for walking uphill so you can respond quickly if necessary. Good places to do this safely are the ski outs at Sunshine or Lake Louise.

first tours

Once you get these skills dialled its time to try your first tours.

  • Class 1 (Simple) Terrain tours. There are not many of these out there but here are a few ideas.

    • Sunshine Meadows behind the top of Standish Lift.

    • The firebreak near the summit of Vermilion Pass (Highway 93 S), on the south side of the highway.

    • The firebreak above the Great Divide Trail. Start at the Lake O’Hara parking lot and head east on the trail.

    • The “Simple” lines at Bow Summit as described in the guidebooks (not all skiing around Bow Summit is Simple Terrain).

    • Healey Pass area (there is some Class 2 Terrain in this area as well).

Getting experience in higher risk terrain

Once you complete the tours above you may consider tours in Class 2 (Challenging) Terrain.

  • Your first tours in higher risk terrain should be with people more experienced than you, who you know and trust. Not some random person you met in the bar who said they had lots of experience!

  • Not all Class 2 Terrain is the same. Some trips are more straightforward than others. Some good Class 2 Terrain to start on would be:

    • Crowfoot Trees

    • The lower west facing slopes on Observation Peak

    • The lower trees and runouts in the West Nile area

    • OXO Peak (also known as Puzzle Peak)

    • Pipestone Bowl

    • Wolverine Valley/Wolverine Bowl

Further related training

The following are courses you should consider taking to help you learn about some other aspects of backcountry travel. BanffLife/MountainLife offers these types of courses.

  • First aid

  • Navigation

  • Weather

  • Companion Avalanche Rescue

  • Crevasse Rescue

  • Glacier Travel

AST 2

The AST 2 course is the next step in avalanche training. We recommend you have at least a season of touring experience after the AST 1 (at least 10 days of touring including some Challenging Terrain tours) before taking the AST 2. If you have a few years of other mountain experience in addition to the AST 1 it may be appropriate to take the AST 2 in the same season as the AST 1.

Other advanced avalanche training

After the AST 2 there are no more formal recreational avalanche training programmes. The Canadian Avalanche Association offers professional level courses but these are not recommended unless the student wants to work in the industry (EG ski patrol). A more effective way for recreationalists to learn more is to organize a group and hire a guide to put together a training programme that includes touring in more challenging terrain and conditions.

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