In January-February 2025, Medicine Bow Nordic Ski Patrol (MBNSP) and Snowy Range Ski Patrol (SRSP) plan to offer two National Ski Patrol (NSP) Level-1 Avalanche courses. The courses--identical in content--introduce fundamental concepts and principles of avalanche hazard assessment and safe winter travel. Topics include avalanche problem recognition, including weather, snowpack, and terrain evaluation; route selection; human factors and decision making; and small-group rescue. The planned schedule appears below.
Level-1 Avalanche courses do not assume any prior background in avalanche science or safety. The curriculum exceeds standards established by the American Avalanche Association and includes the following topics:
1. Avalanche classification and nomenclature
2. The avalanche triangle: weather, terrain, and snowpack
3. Instability and avalanche release
4. Human factors
5. Personal safety
6. Rescue principles.
To ensure a safe, high-quality experience, we will cap the enrollment in each course at 20.
5:30 pm - 9:30 pm January 15, 16, and 17 (in the classroom)
8:00 am - 4:00 pm January 18 and 19 (in the field).
Open to the public, subject to receipt of an application and review by the instructors.
Fees: $100 membership fee to NSP, $75 local fee to MBNSP.
Contact Myron Allen, allen@uwyo.edu to receive the application.
5:30 pm - 9:30 pm February 19, 20, and 21 (in the classroom)
8:00 am - 4:00 pm February 22 and 23 (in the field)
Open to UW students and employees.
Fees: $100 membership fee to NSP, $75 local fee to MBNSP, UWOP fee.
Available for registration through the UW Outdoor Program at the start of UW's spring semester.
Contact UW's Outdoor Program Director, Elise D'Alessandro, edalessa@uwyo.edu.
Local course fees help pay for teaching equipment and instructors' expenses. All instructors teach as volunteers. The course fees exclude textbook cost, trailhead parking fees, and whatever additional fee the UW Outdoor Program charges. The textbook is Bruce Tremper's Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain (3rd edition), published by The Mountaineers Books. Read it before the course if you can.
For people who have completed a level-1 avalanche course within the last 3 years, we also plan to offer a 1-day NSP course called Organized Avalanche Rescue, aimed at ski patrollers and search-and-rescue personnel. The date for this course is to be determined; we hope to conduct it in late April or early May.
Students must arrange their own transportation to classroom sessions (in Laramie, Wyoming) and field sessions (in the Snowy Range backcountry of Wyoming and possibly Cameron Pass in Colorado). Students must be in solid physical condition, experienced with and capable of human-powered over-snow travel, uphill and downhill with day packs, at elevations up to 11,000 feet above sea level, on slopes up to 20°.
For both NSP and UWOP, safety is by far the highest priority. We will teach, model, and insist on safe travel practices, following industry-standard risk-management protocols. The instructors have spent many years building avalanche expertise, through hundreds of hours of formal training, extensive backcountry navigation and route finding in avalanche country, carefully mentored teaching, and personal adherence to safe backcountry travel practices. Nevertheless, travel in the mountains involves inherent risks, not limited to avalanches. Both NSP and UWOP require that all participants sign liability waivers. Also, in the interest of safe travel on roads and in the backcountry, instructors may change the field-session locations depending on weather and avalanche forecasts. We will discuss any changes of this type, including students in our decision-making methodology and communication protocols, in class.