I took a 4 day avalanche course by Baker Mountain Guides the week of Christmas in the Mt. Baker backcountry. I’ve been casually doing some backcountry stuff the past few years, but never pulled the trigger on buying avi gear or taking a class, which isn’t super smart or safe. The first two days were over Zoom with a firehose of information – logging it all here for future reference.

General info & videos to review regularly

• Ultimate Guide to Backcountry Skiing
• AIARE 1 classroom content
• Avalanche Encyclopedia
• AIARE – avtraining.org
• Know Before You Go
• Persistent Slab Avalanches
• Fracture Character in compression tests
• Learn Avalanche Safety – BCA youtube series
• Terrain Tricks for Backcountry Skiers

Trip planning

• NWAC Avalanche forecast for Baker
• NWAC Avalanche forecast for Snoqualmie
• Windy TV weather
• NOAA Point Forecast
• Mountain Forecast
• Hill map
• Caltopo maps

Where we went

Day 3 was our first day in the field. Built a snow pit to analyze the snowpack and practiced recovery using our beacons, probe, and shovel.

Forth and final day, went on a tour we planned the night before. Was an epic powder day with waist deep snow.

Photos