Practice winter camping skills and refine the art of setting up a base camp. Everything from how to run white gas stoves efficiently to melting snow at high elevations. The importance of planning meals and how this can be done without resorting to boil in a bag meals, dehydrated or even worse freeze dried meals that wreak havoc with your stomach and your pocket book.

Gain valuable experience leading on complicated glaciers. Learn when to bring the skis/splitboard to the summit and when not to. Practice self-arresting with an ice axe and how to kick solid steps in steep snow to avoid the falling hazard altogether, including what kind of snow to kick steps in and what kind require crampons. Review crevasse rescue techniques and more importantly crevasse avoidance techniques during trip planning and route finding.

Prerequisites: AST 2 and Crevasse rescue. Moderate level of fitness and good workigng knowledge of your touring gear. Moderate downhill riding ability with a full 50 lb traverse pack and willingness to put on cold boots in the morning.

Cost: $700/day for the course, which works out to 140/day per participant if we get 5 people. This would be $588 for the 4 days, including GST. I will wait until we have 5 people to get everyone to pay.

This course is run by Chris Girard, ACMG ski guide. He is passionate about connecting people with the beautiful mountain wilderness, breaking down barriers and providing a safe place for guests to learn through valuable life changing experiences.