Avalanche Beacon Clinics at Stevens Pass

In a joint effort with Backcountry Access (BCA) we are offering a series of avalanche beacon clinics near Stevens Pass Ski Area for people who either have no beacon experience or are looking to practice avalanche beacon use with an AMGA certified ski guide. These clinics take around 3 hours and can be conducted at Stevens Pass, in Leavenworth, and other locations. Topics covered include: wearing your beacon, turning beacons on and off, differences between digital and analog beacons, single victim burial, multiple victim burial, rescue digging, use of the avalanche probe, and running an organized rescue scene. This is not a comprehensive avalanche course and the program will be limited to how to use your beacon to locate buried victims.

The Stevens Pass avalanche beacon clinics will be conducted by either John Race or Olivia Cussen, both fully certified IFMGA guides, AMGA certified ski guides, and AIARE level 1 Avalanche Course instructors. They each carry a US level 3 avalanche certification and are avid backcountry skiers. You will not need skis or snowshoes for this clinic, but you will need to dress appropriately to be outside for 3 hours. If not wearing ski boots, you will want a warm boot with a gaiter as you will be moving about in potentially deep snow.

Avalanche Beacon Course Itinerary

Once you contact our office to set up a clinic, we will schedule a meet time and place.

In addition to our pre-scheduled courses we can run these as a private program for $35 per person with a minimum of 2 participants or for $70 per person with 1 participant.

Additional Notes:

We will be able to loan a BCA Tracker DTS avalanche beacon to each participant as well as a BCA shovel and probe. If you already own these items, feel free to bring your own. You might also consider taking one of our AIARE Level 1 Avalanche Courses, in lieu of the Avalanche Beacon Clinic. The AIARE Level 1 Course is a three day program that covers all these beacon skills as well as more advanced skillls as part of a more comprehensive avalanche awareness program. Your Avalanche Beacon course fee (up to $35) can be deducted from the cost of any beacon purchased from Leavenworth Mountain Sports within 1 month of your program. You must have registered for a course to get this discount.