A Mostly unbiased Guide to choosing your AST Course provider:

THOUGHTS AND IDEAS TO HELP YOU FIND THE BEST FIT WHEN CHOOSING YOUR AST 1 & AST 2 COURSE PROVIDER THIS SEASON:

 

We've been very fortunate over the past few seasons to see substantial growth in our AST (Avalanche Skills Training) Courses, and appreciate knowing that on whole, our products are well received for many of you in the community. That said, our intent here is to provide a mainly neutral, and only partially biased idea of the considerations you may want to dive into before booking any AST Course, whether with us or any other provider. Below, we'll offer some insight on who we are, what we can offer with respect to quality of training, and the specific benefits of our Guiding and Instructor Staff you will see on course.

With that in mind, we have also provided below the names and contact information for a variety of other providers in the Bow Valley, Banff and Canmore specifically, who in our view provide exceptional instructional services, client care, and bring with them a depth of experience which all support high quality experiences on course. These alternative providers are generally considered to be highly respected individuals and operators in their fields, have relevant experience, and may be suitable alternatives to check out if you wish. 
 

 

What to look for in the Guides? WAIT, WHAT... GUIDES?

On the AST 1 Course, Instructors at a minimum are required to hold the first of two membership levels available from the Canadian Avalanche Association, this is known as Active Membership. For AST 2 Instructors, the minimum requirement becomes what is known as Professional Membership. Regardless of membership level, AST Instructors must also hold a license from Avalanche Canada to provide AST Training. 

While many providers offering AST 1 Training also maintain professional Guiding Certification from both the ACMG and the IFMGA in addition to the minimum requirements outlined for instructors by the CAA, there is no requirement to be a Certified Guide to teach AST Courses. For AST Instructors that do not hold ACMG or IFMGA Certification, this means it is possible that their total training and experience may amount to 12-14 days of avalanche education, and as little as a single season working as an avalanche professional, an important distinction to make. 

Further, it's worth considering that whether you would like your instructor to have a professional background relevant to how you intend on recreating in the backcountry. For example, ACMG Ski Certified, and IFMGA Mountain Guides likely will have at least some experience heli skiing, snowcat skiing, and ski mountaineering as well as instructional backgrounds related to these. Many large providers however staff instructors as well who are not ski certified, maintaining certification related primarily to Alpine Climbing or Mountaineering, these Guides are known as ACMG Alpine or Apprentice Alpine Guides. One is not necessarily better than the other, but we'd like to think it's about finding the right fit. 

If you intend to ski or splitboard in the backcountry post course, having an instructor who is certified in the ACMG Alpine stream, will likely mean that the Guide has a lesser ability on average to instruct in the context skiing and splitboarding as their professional experience is likely limited in this area. However, if you are a snowshoer, winter scrambler, or ice climber, and ACMG Alpine certified Guide or IFMGA Mountain Guide would likely be an excellent fit.

If you're intention again is to ski and splitboard in the backcountry primarily post course, what will be most likely to yield the highest quality educational experience for you as a student is to ensure you're booking, or grouped with a Guide / Instructor who has a broad foundation of work experience as an ACMG Ski Certified or IFMGA Mountain Guide. This will ensure the course currriculum is delivered in context relitive to your specific goals and objectives in the mountains down the road. 

During our busiest weekends at Cloud Nine, it is not uncommon that we have 100+ years of combined professional Guiding Experience on the instructor team in the field. The average experience level of individual Guides sits at approximately 16 years experience for our team, with our Senior Guides maintaining between 20-30+ years industry experience. You can expect in majority for our team to be either ACMG Ski Guides or IFMGA Mountain Guides.
 

CHOOSING THE RIGHT COURSE LOCATION:
 

  • AST Level 1: In our view, it's not likely to matter where geographically you take your course. Much of the training and information you will receive on course will be foundational in nature. It will likely be reasonable for you to apply your new knowledge in a variety of new areas post-course, as generally you will likely be accessing relitively simple avalanche terrain, with less hazard and lower risk, to start.

    Generally, choosing a course location close to home is a safe and reasonable bet at the AST 1 level. The quality of your educational experience likely won't increase simply on the basis of a change in course location.

  • AST 2 Level 2: You've now got some mileage under your feet after the AST 1 Course. In the view of our team, there are few considerations here for course locations on your AST 2 Course, but these will likely depend on how you view and consider your personal priorities:
    • Do you want to gain more depth in the understanding of the areas you tour and frequent the most, or is your preference to explore new areas, new terrain and new snowpack climates with the goal of broader understanding of snowpack and terrain?
    • Would you prefer to learn in a region that commonly has higher than average snowpack complexity, and more limited opportunity to access larger, steeper and more complex terrain, or is your priority to access more complex terrain with a snowpack that is more forgiving in terms of hazard and complexity within it?
    • How important is it to you to maximize the amount of quality skiing and riding on course? 
    • How important is it to you that we maximize the potential for quality powder skiing/riding potential?
    • Is budget and course cost a priority?
       
  • Our AST 2 Course Locations & Your Priorities:
     
    • AST 2 - Banff & Lake Louise: 
      If you spend most of your time touring in Kananaskis Country, along HWY 93S or along the south end of the Icefield Parkway, want to prioritize gaining familiarity in these areas, prefer your learning environment to take place in a more complex snowpack, and are happy to take whatever ski/ride quality comes our way, and budget is a main consideration this Rockies based course is a good bet.
       
    • AST 2 - Golden & Rogers Pass
      If you want consistently good ski/ride quality, or higher potential for it, would prefer if given the choice to prioritize access to bigger and more complex terrain consistently, and are happy to give up some complexity in the snowpack in favour of this, and further aren't overly concerned with course cost, our AST 2 in the Golden and Rogers Pass areas might be the best fit.
       
    • AST 2 South Rockies
      Similar to our Banff & Lake Louise AST 2 Courses; If you spend most of your time touring Waterton, the Castle areas or Corbin, and to some extent Fernie, and want to prioritize gaining familiarity in these areas, prefer your learning environment to take place in a more complex snowpack, and are happy to take whatever ski/ride quality comes our way, and likely most importantly doesn't require that you drive up to the Bow Valley, Golden or Revelstoke areas, the AST 2 South Rockies is likely a good fit, though is more expensive typically then courses we offer elsewhere.