Avy 3 Classroom Curriculum Progression by Ben Markhart IMFGA Mountain Guide

We've partnered with Ben Markhart (IMFGA Mountain Guide) to offer learning opportunities for recreational intermediate to advanced skiers & riders wanting to step into steeper terrain and address concepts not routinely covered in the common recreational curriculums.

The Avy 3 program is designed to fill the gap left between recreational and professional training progressions.

These classroom sessions will serve to provide conceptual frameworks to support field sessions throughout the winter.

Classroom sessions:

Evening classroom sessions are 6-8pm (7-9pm in March & April) and cost $50 per session and enrollment is limited to 15 people. If you are enrolled in a field session in the 2024/25 season the classroom sessions are free.

VERY LIMITED SPOTS. Book your spot at:

The “Conceptual Model for Avalanche Hazard” is the key document underpinning operational avalanche forecasting and hazard management in North America. To begin a higher level or risk assessment we need a higher level tool. This session will provide the more advanced underlying framework used in operational risk management. This session will focus on primarily on how we can best evaluate consequence of avalanche involvements.

The reality is if you enter avalanche terrain you will encounter avalanches. The key decision point in any backcountry skier or riders career is deciding they want to accept that risk. Choosing to enter into terrain we must accept that we will encounter avalanche hazard and need to begin managing that hazard instead of avoiding it. Fundamental to that is a more intimate understanding of hazard, centered around the avalanche problem types. This session will focus on the nuance of the problems types and how they factor into our terrain selection and risk management.

In the mountains there is a reality—the nature of the geometry and the way the mountain snow environment manifests across it. And then there is what we expect to find there; unfortunately those two things are not always the same. Fundamental to our success as backcountry travelers is our ability to predict and plan for what we will encounter in the field. We need to train our ability to more accurately predict and plan for what awaits us. This session will focus on advanced touring planning resources relating to navigation as well as weather and snowpack forecasting.

If you have spent much time in the backcountry community in Colorado you’ve probably heard “spring is safer”. Yet many serious and fatal accidents happen in spring. Avalanches happen just as much in spring as they do in winter and are just as dangerous. They are however more predicable, and it is possible to avoid them with a higher level of confidence. This session is dedicated to understanding the nuance of spring skiing and how we can use the predictability of spring conditions to maintain and acceptable margin of risk.

Host or Publisher La Sportiva N.A.