Backcountry Education
Our Backcountry Education camps go beyond skiing. These camps are focused on the skills that will give you another level of self sufficiency while travelling in the backcountry, and are often multi-disciplinary. The camps will open a whole new type of terrain on your map.
NAVIGATION COURSES
New for 2025, we are excited to offer a series of navigation courses in levels 1 and 2. Learn the fundamentals of backcountry navigation in Navigation 1, then go deeper and apply your new skills in Navigation 2.
Navigation
Level 1
We want to empower you by giving you the tools, skills and knowledge to know exactly where you are in the backcountry. This one-day navigation course will spend half of the day in the classroom familiarizing you to traditional navigation tools such as map and compass, as well as introduce you to important computer applications such as google earth, FATMAPS, and GAIA.
The second half of the day will be in the field using practical map reading skills, learning to take bearings, and navigating using your surroundings. By the end of this day, you should be able to look on a map and say yes, “I AM HERE”.
You will need to:
Bring a compass with mirror (like this one)
Download FATMAP and GAIA
Bring lots of warm waterproof clothing
Bring a notebook and pencil
Bring something hard to write on
Dates
November 16, 2025 | $137
Navigation
Level 2
Want to put your navigation skills into use? Learn how to make a route plan and then test it out on skis the next day with a touring objective in the RMR backcountry or another Revelstoke location. This course is for people who are already comfortable in the fundamentals of backcountry navigation.
You will need to:
Bring a compass with mirror (like this one)
Download FATMAP and GAIA
Touring gear (day 2)
Bring a notebook and pencil
Bring something hard to write on
Dates
February 15-16, 2025 | $395
ROPES COURSES
Rope skills for safe and efficient backcountry travel are an essential skill to have as you progress in your ski touring journey. This year, we’ve split our ropes course into two levels. Ropes 1 is a town-based skills course to learn your rope systems, and Ropes 2 will take those skills onto skis.
Ropes
Level 1: ROPE SKILLS
Learn the ropes! This 2-day course will provide an introduction to ropes and rope systems for skiers, as well as the opportunity to practice your new skills at a local crag. This is a town-based course in Revelstoke, and you will not be on skis.
DAY 1- Spend a day in the classroom learning the fundamental theory of roped travel: glaciology, practicing knots, and understanding rope systems and anchors.
DAY 2- Take your skills into the field at a local crag (no skis necessary - we’ll be fully focused on the rope work here). Work on rappelling, prussiking and self-rescue, and practice crevasse rescue scenarios with the guidance of a knowledgeable full-certified ACMG Mountain Guide.
Need to know:
This course does not involved glacier travel or any ski touring. For that, you’ll need to keep going to Ropes 2.
Gear: if you have your own gear, please bring it. We will send a full gear list out upon registration, and may have some to loan. You will need a harness, helmet, a combination of locking/non-locking carabiners, long and short prussiks, and some slings. We also recommend bringing any other tools you may already have like ti-blocks, pulleys, microtraxions etc.
Skill Level:
Does this sound like you?
As this is a town-based course, there are no minimum skill level or fitness requirements.
That being said, these skills will be more applicable for advanced/expert ski tourers who are looking to start getting onto glaciated terrain.
The more you put into this course, the more you get out of it! There will be some pre-course reading and homework. We recommend knowing your knots at a minimum.
Dates
November 28-29, 2024 | $395
March 8-9, 2025 | $395
Ropes
level 2: glacier travel
This three-day course is for expert downhill skiers and riders who want to learn how to safely and efficiently travel on glaciated terrain, whether it be small-scale day trips or multi-day traverses. Your ACMG guide and tail guide will coach you through how and when to rope up on glaciers, procedures for rappelling into steeps, and guide scenarios to practice simple and advanced crevasse rescue techniques. A key component of this course will be terrain assessment, which means developing a deeper understanding of your gear, rescue procedures, and your dynamic surroundings.
DAY 1- Spend the morning deep diving into rope and rescue systems somewhere in town. We will be going over procedures for rappelling into steeps, building anchors and going over guided scenarios for simple and advanced crevasse rescue techniques.
DAY 2- Gear up and go out. We won’t be traveling to a glacier, but we will be putting our new skills into practice out in the field. These skills will include roping up to travel, reading terrain features and practicing building snow anchors.
DAY 3- Glacier travel (weather & condition dependent). Apply your rope skills in the field with the aim of tackling a larger glaciated objective. Please note that we cannot guarantee that we will get on a glacier, as group safety is our first priority and conditions may not always be right, but you will still have the opportunity to practice roped travel and ropes skills.
Need to know:
This camp is open to expert skiers who have at least 15 days of ski touring experience. You are required to bring your own gear. We want you to be confident and efficient with your own tools. We will provide a list of what to bring so you don’t forget a thing!
Please ensure you are comfortable with touring gear in advance to ensure that we can focus on improving our use of glacier travel equipment.
In preparation, you will receive some reading materials and homework. Arriving prepared will ensure maximum time on snow and provide you with the opportunity to bring forward any questions you may have about the material.
Skill Level
Does this sound like you?
Familiar with crevasse rescue systems - you don’t need to be a pro, but you should know your drop loops from your Z-drags and be familiar with the following:
Knots: prussik, munter hitch, figure 8, double fisherman’s bend.
Crevasse rescue systems: 3:1 hauling system
Rappelling (especially on a munter hitch) and prussiking
How to build a variety of snow/ice anchors
Expert skier in all terrain and conditions
Desire to push your backcountry knowledge and experience in glaciated terrain
Proficient knowledge and use of backcountry equipment
Strong base fitness level (1500m+ of vertical in a day)
Extensive experience touring and some backcountry trip experience
Dates
March 15-17, 2025 | $915
WINTER WARM UP
An opportunity to build community and brush up on your skills!
Revy locals, this one’s for you! This one-day event will happen at Revelstoke Mountain Resort and will be focused on refreshing your avalanche skills including: transceiver searches, shovelling, probing. We will also be putting together a practice multiple burial scenario. This will be a great way to connect with community and brush up on your skills. This is not an avalanche course and no certification will be awarded. This camp will be facilitated by avalanche professionals.
Dates
December 8, 2024 | $130