Tyler's Backcountry Awareness

10/15/2026

Jeff Hartsough will be sharing sought after information regarding winter survival Friday night of the Colorado SnoMo Expo.

Get details here: Colorado SnoMO Expo

Brandon Alan, Tudizzle Films

We have some amazing Seminars lined up this year for SnoMO including Friday Night at 6:30 pm with Jeff Hartshough.

Learn practical winter survival skills with retired U.S. Army Green Beret and avalanche instructor Jeff Hartsough of Tyler’s Backcountry Awareness. Drawing on six years of teaching winter warfare, Jeff covers staying warm, building shelters, finding water, navigating whiteouts, signaling for help, and handling backcountry emergencies.

10/13/2026

Practicing avalanche rescue is rehearsing for an unlikely but possible emergency situation. Learn how to best conduct an avalanche rescue by taking an Avalanche Rescue Course. To keep your skills sharp and make sure you are reinforcing the correct habits, frequently review this avalanche rescue section, practice throughout the season, and regularly retake the Avalanche Rescue Course to gain experience working with others in realistic scenarios and receive coaching from experienced professionals.

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10/10/2026

Dig in the Layered Snowpack

The conditions that form avalanches can result from a storm event (new snow accumulation and/or wind transporting and depositing snow onto steep slopes) or a warming event (sun/heat or rain warming the snow surface layers to 0°C/32°F). However, in cooler mountain regions (Intermountain and Continental climates) unstable conditions frequently linger beyond the initial storm cycle or weather event. It is during these conditions that experts and the avalanche advisories warn about Persistent Slab and Deep Slab avalanche problem types.

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10/07/2026

Your learning with us will include new knowledge, hands on experience, AND we will have fun too!

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10/04/2026

After the group has checked in, shared observations, and if necessary, reassessed the plan, the group should assess the terrain on the next leg of the trip. When creating a trip plan, the group planned to limit exposure to avalanches through a careful examination of terrain in maps and photos. Now in the field, the group should ground-truth their assessment by reevaluating all slopes the group will travel on or near for their avalanche potential.

When assessing consequences, ask yourself:
• Does this slope have the potential to avalanche?
• If so, how big and destructive could the avalanche be?

Realistic terrain evaluation—and a respectful fear of an avalanche’s consequence—are the two most valuable assets when deciding where you go and how you go.

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09/25/2026

Level 1 Avalanche Course
The AIARE 1 is a three-day / 24-hour introduction to avalanche hazard management. Students can expect to develop a good grounding in how to prepare for and carry out a backcountry trip, to understand basic decision making while in the field, and to learn rescue techniques required to find and dig up a buried person (if an avalanche occurs and someone in the party is caught).

Who Should Take this Course
The AIARE 1 is for ANYONE, regardless of method of travel, who wants to recreate in or near avalanche terrain. Participants may have attended some awareness classes or workshops or completed the Avalanche Rescue course, but none are a prerequisite for this course.

Aspiring professionals will need to take the AIARE 1 and Avalanche Rescue as a prerequisite for the Pro 1 course.

Student Learning Outcomes
At the end of the AIARE 1 course, the student should be able to:
-Develop a plan for travel in avalanche terrain.
-Demonstrate the ability to identify avalanche terrain.
-Effectively use The AIARE Risk Management Framework to make terrain choices in a group setting.
-Demonstrate effective companion rescue.

Prerequisites
Students must be able to travel in avalanche terrain and bring appropriate equipment for traveling on snow to class. There are no other prerequisites.

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09/22/2026

Different storms bring different types of snow throughout the season. Some storms might bring heavy, wet snow while others might bring light, dry powder. Each unique storm forms a layer or multiple layers of the snowpack. In addition, weather events, such as cold temperatures, rain, and time cause those layers to continue to change, either bonding together or becoming more distinct. Sometimes, the right combination of snow and weather events creates a solid, stable snowpack. Other times, the layers don’t fuse together, and we are left with a snowpack that is more likely to avalanche if triggered on steep terrain.

Different storms bring different types of snow throughout the season. Some storms might bring heavy, wet snow while others might bring light, dry powder. Each unique storm forms a layer or multiple layers of the snowpack. In addition, weather events, such as cold temperatures, rain, and time cause those layers to continue to change, either bonding together or becoming more distinct. Sometimes, the right combination of snow and weather events creates a solid, stable snowpack. Other times, the layers don’t fuse together, and we are left with a snowpack that is more likely to avalanche if triggered on steep terrain.

As you conduct your observations, take note of obvious differences between layers, such as the size and shape of the snow crystals in the layers or the hardness of the layers. What is the thickness of the layers? Are there strong layers on top of weak layers?

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