What you get on this adventure:

• • Professional and experienced instructors
  • A3 certified avalanche education for…
    • Avalanche Level 1 Course
    • Avalanche Level 2 Course
    • Avalanche Rescue Course
  • Course materials
  • Permits
  • Permit fees
  • Avalanche equipment (beacon, probe, shovel) — ONLY included with Avalanche Level 1 Course

What’s not included:

• • Transportation to and from the starting point
  • Food and snacks
  • Accommodations
  • Guide gratuities — optional

Food is not included in the price of these courses. Make sure to bring lunches and high carbohydrate snacks with you: Clif Bars, Power Bars, GORP (good ol’ raisins and peanuts), bagels, cheese, crackers, cookies, candy bars, dried fruit, hard candy, chocolate, and granola bars.

Avalanche Level 1 Course
We expect you to be in good physical condition. No formal avalanche education is required, but please read the recommended book: Avalanche Essentials: A Step by Step System for Safety and Survival (October 2013 edition) by Bruce Tremper. We recommend participants have the following skills prior to taking the course: some snowshoeing or backcountry skiing experience, first aid, introduction to avalanche safety.

Avalanche Level 2 Course
We expect you to be in good physical condition. It’s necessary that you have Level 1 Avalanche Course either AAA Certified or AIARE Avalanche Course Level I or equivalent or Level 1 Refresher in the last five years. This is the recommended reading:

• • Avalanche Essentials: A Step by Step System for Safety and Survival (October 2013 edition) by Bruce Tremper
  • Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain (third edition 2018) by Bruce Tremper
  • Snow, Weather, and Avalanches: (SWAG) Observational Guidelines for Avalanche Programs in the United States (3rd edition 2016), United State Forest Service

Avalanche Rescue Course
We expect you to be in good physical condition. Some snowshoeing or skiing experience is recommended but not required. Please read the recommended book: Avalanche Essentials: A Step by Step System for Safety and Survival (October 2013 edition) by Bruce Tremper.

It is important for the success and safety of your course that you bring all the items listed below. The weather in the winter can be either warm or very windy and cold. Be prepared to encounter all types of conditions and be out in the field all day if needed. Some items can be rented with your guides.

Basics

• • Snowshoes or backcountry telemark or all terrain, Randonnee, (AT) Systems, or snowboard with snowshoes or splitboard
  • Climbing skins
  • Winter hiking boots (can be rented) or backcountry ski/snowboarding boots
  • Ski poles (can be rented) for snowshoers & skiers
  • Daypack (large enough to carry all your gear) or avalanche airbag pack
  • Avalanche equipment (beacon, probe, shovel) — can be rented

Clothing

• • Neck gaiter / balaclava
  • Small hand sanitizer
  • Synthetic top
  • Synthetic bottoms
  • Wool or pile or medium weight synthetic shirt
  • Fleece or down jacket
  • Synthetic or fleece pants
  • Wool or synthetic socks
  • Synthetic liner socks
  • Wool/fleece gloves or mitts (with shells)
  • Woolf/fleece hat
  • Gore-Tex jacket or equivalent rain/snow/wind jacket
  • Knee-height gaiters
  • Gore-Tex pants/bibs or equivalent rain/snow/wind pants

Other important things

• • Two one-liter wide mouth water containers
  • Swiss Army Knife or other small pocket knife
  • Good quality (dark) sunglasses with side shields
  • Sun protection and chapstick (SPF 30+)
  • Sunhat (baseball cap or other type)
  • Headlamp (something to stick on your head)
  • Notebook and pencil
  • Personal medication

Optional

• • Ski goggles
  • Down west

For the lodge or in town

• • Sleeping bag
  • Lodge clothing
  • Toothbrush and toothpaste
  • Soap, shampoo, brush, etc.

Indeed you can! Avalanche equipment (beacon, probe, shovel), hard-shell jackets, down jackets, snowshoes, ski poles, and winter hiking boots are available for rental through your guides. Let us know in time if you need anything.

A3 certified avalanche instructors, A3 professional members with experience as ski patrollers and professional backcountry ski and splitboard guides—these are possible instructors for your course. All of these A3 avalanche educators have real-world avalanche experience from years of guiding around the world. They will be your instructors in some of the critical, essential hands-on learning that you could ever do.

Group sizes and prices:

• • For these avalanche courses, the client-to-guide ratio is 6:1.
  • It takes a minimum of 2 people for this tour to operate.
  • The cost is per person and doesn’t decrease as the group grows.

Mount Shasta avalanche courses can be arranged for larger groups. Contact us to make arrangements.

Min. age requirements:

• • If you are older than 18, you’re good to go.
  • Minors may be permitted to join private tours on a case-by-case basis.

If your group has skiers under the age of 18, contact us prior to booking to make arrangements.

To get to the town of Mt. Shasta, most people fly into Sacramento Airport (SMF) and Medford International Airport (MFR). Depending on where you land, you can rent a car, or take a bus or a train to reach the town of Mt. Shasta. Keep in mind that you’ll need a car to reach the parking area at the remote trailhead (carpooling recommended).

Make sure to arrive to Mt. Shasta at least a day prior to Day 1 of the tour as you’re meeting your guide early in the morning of Day 1 at their office (SWS Mt. Shasta Office, 110 Alpine St, Mount Shasta, CA. 96067).

We highly recommend that you cover all your bases with both emergency medical and travel insurance. With medical insurance, if you have an accident or medical emergency on or off the mountain, you’ll avoid paying out of pocket for costly expenses. This covers everything from hospital treatments to emergency air transportation and more.

It is strongly recommended that all participants purchase travel insurance to protect themselves from unforeseen circumstances. In addition, travel insurance can protect your investment in a
trip if you must cancel at the last minute.

We also expect you to respect local regulations and take measures to protect yourselves, your guides, and the communities you’re traveling to.

If you need assistance selecting the right insurance for your group, let us know and we will be happy to help!