- How the snowpack develops and metamorphoses over time
- Practicing standard observation guidelines and official recording formats
- Introduction to snow stability analysis and forecasting framework
- Further practice of companion rescue skills with multiple and deep burials
- Advance understanding of avalanche release and triggering mechanisms
Are you looking to further your avalanche skills and have already taken the AIARE Level I course? This course delves a little deeper into the “hows” and “whys” of avalanches. You will not only get more practice assessing avalanche terrain and exercising your decision making skills, you will also get a better understanding of why avalanches happen with relation to snow stability.
The AIARE Level II course is a 4-day program that provides backcountry leaders the opportunity to advance their avalanche knowledge and decision making skills. This course also includes the introductory and prerequisite components for the professional progression: the AIARE Level III certificate.
The AIARE Level II builds from the introductory avalanche hazard management model introduced in AIARE Level I and adds to it the assessment of factors critical to stability evaluation.
Student Learning Outcomes:
- Advance understanding of avalanche terrain, particularly from the perspective of stability analysis
- Discuss how the snowpack develops and metamorphoses over time; and discuss the factors that contribute to spatial variability
- Learn standard observation guidelines and recording formats for factors that influence or indicate snow stability (SWAG MODULE)
- Advance understanding of avalanche release and triggering mechanisms
- Introduce a snow stability analysis and forecasting framework
- Improve companion rescue skills including multiple and deep burials
Instructional Sessions (40 hours including both class and field) include:
- Level 1 Review
- Energy balance, the mountain snowpack and metamorphism
- Faceting; near surface and near crust faceting
- Formation of surface hoar and persistent weak layers
- Skier Triggering: theory and observations
- International and national snow, weather and avalanche observation and recording guidelines (SWAG)
- Weather; interpreting forecasts, recording and observation techniques
- Snow profile techniques and bonding tests
- Avalanche observations and recording techniques
- Stability analysis checklist: reviewing critical factors
- Stability ratings
- Daily stability forecasts and analysis
- Trip Planning and hazard forecasting for avalanche terrain
- The avalanche danger ratings
- Terrain analysis using maps/photos
- Forecasting stability and variability
- Terrain selection and route finding
- Group management and hazard management
- Decision making
- Human factors
- Information gathering
- Site selection and relevancy
- Spatial variability
- Slope tests
- Companion Rescue
- Level 1 techniques review
- Multiple burial
- Shovel techniques
This is a sanctioned curriculum offered by AIARE-trained instructors, and an AIARE Certificate of Completion is granted to all participants who complete the course.
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Directions for AIARE Level I and II students:
You will be meeting your instructor at Thayer Hall at the Crawford Notch Highland Center complex. Please follow directions below to arrive at the Highland Center. Once you are there, Thayer Hall is the big red building closest to the parking lot. You will follow the main walkway from the parking lot, and Thayer Hall is the first very large red building on the right. Proceed through the first set of double doors to enter a lobby, turn right down a short hallway. Your instructor will meet you there!
Highland Center Front Desk (24 Hours), 603-278-4453, ext. 0 (cell phone service is not reliable in Crawford Notch)
To get to the Highland Center:
From central and south-central New Hampshire (Manchester, Concord, etc.):
- Take Interstate 93 North to Route 3 North (Exit 35).
- Take Route 3 North to Route 302 East (near Twin Mountain).
- Take Route 302 East approximately 10 miles to the Highland Center, located roadside right on Route 302. Continue just past the Highland Center for parking at the Crawford Depot train station.
From eastern and southeastern New Hampshire (Portsmouth, etc.):
- Take Spaulding Turnpike North to Route 16 North.
- Take Route 16 to Route 302 West (in Glen).
- Take Route 302 West approximately 10 miles to the Highland Center, located roadside left on Route 302.
From Boston and its suburbs:
- Take Interstate 93 North to central New Hampshire.
- Follow directions above for central New Hampshire.
From Portland, Maine:
- Take Route 302 West to the Crawford Notch Depot Visitor Center, located roadside left on Route 302.
From Montreal:
- Take Autoroute 10 East to Autoroute 55 South (north of Magog).
- Take Autoroute 55 South to Interstate 91 South (at US/Canada line).
- Take Interstate 91 South to Route 105 East (by Derby, Vt.).
- Take Route 105 East to Route 3 South (in North Stratford, N.H.).
- Take Route 3 South to Route 302 East to (near Twin Mountain).
- Take Route 302 East to the Crawford Notch Depot Visitor Center, located roadside right on Route 302.
From New York City (and Hartford, Conn., or western Massachusetts):
- Take Interstate 95 North (Connecticut Turnpike) to Interstate 91 North (by New Haven, Conn.).
- Take Interstate 91 North to Route 302 East (Exit 17 in Vermont).
- Take Route 302 East to the Crawford Notch Depot Visitor Center, located roadside right on Route 302.
Approximate driving times and mileage to Crawford Notch. Times may vary greatly depending on driving style, traffic, and road conditions. But here are some approximations to offer a bit of guidance:
- From Boston, 160 miles, three hours.
- From New York City, 370 miles, seven hours.
Directions from North Conway:
- Take Rt 16/302 North to Glen, NH. Go straight through the traffic light on Rt 302. Stay on Rt 302 until the Highland Center appears on the left. Approximate driving time from North Conway, 30 minutes. Allow more time in inclement weather.
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