These are programs for those not only aspiring to become professional guides but also for those who want to expand their horizons and gain high level skills that will enhance the safety of their adventures into the backcountry and also provide them with the tools to take care of emergencies without being reliant upon others.

Wilderness First Responder Training
Designed specifically for outdoor professionals and individuals who participate in outdoor sports, particularly mountain-based activities, this 80 hour course provides you with the tools to make critical medical and evacuation decisions in remote locations. Half of your time will be spent completing practical skills, case studies and scenarios designed to challenge your decision-making abilities.

Wilderness First Responder Recertification
Are your wilderness medicine protocols on the tip of your tongue or in the bottom of your pack? This three day scenario-based course is designed as review and practice of evacuation and decision making guidelines. It also provides wilderness medicine practitioners with current updates in the wilderness medicine field.

Wilderness Advanced First Aid
This is the basic level of training and something that everyone spending time in the backcountry should have under their belt. At only 4 days in length it is significantly shorter than a full WFR, but can also be upgraded to the WFR via the “Bridge Course”. With lots of hands on practice this gives you the fundamentals of taking care of yourself and others in your party.

PCIA Top Rope Site Manager Course
This Professional Climbing Instructors Association(PCIA) course is for all outdoor instructors, aspiring guides, and climbers who facilitate top rope climbing programs in group settings. The program emphasizes the technical and educational proficiency necessary to safely and professionally instruct rock climbing and climbing related activities in a group setting and is intended to help transition recreational climbers into becoming model climbing instructors. Course instructor Todd Vogel is one of the original providers of this course.

Self-Rescue Training
Do you know what to do should your partner fall and get hurt? Too few climbers do. Instead of relying upon outside help and assistance, we should all take the responsibility for being in the mountains and climbing by being prepared to do a self-rescue if necessary. Raising, lowering and belay escapes are all integral parts of this but are all skills that are nearly impossible to learn from a book. The only way is hands on practice and we aim to include plenty of this as well as discussions of how to avoid getting into this situation to start with.

Avalanche Courses
To travel safely in the winter backcountry you must have the ability to recognize avalanche terrain, judge and assess the dangers and also know emergency procedures should an avalanche occur. We are offer three levels to help you expand and hone these essential snow-travel skills. All of our courses follow the guidelines and standards of the AAA (American Avalanche Association) and AIARE (American Institue for Avalanche Research and Education) certification.

Level I Avalanche Course — 3 Days
The objective of this course is to provide you with the fundamental skills necessary to make appropriate decisions while traveling in the winter backcountry. In three very full days we will cover numerous topics including; identification of avalanche terrain, identification of weak layers, performing field instability tests, weather factors, route selection, and the use of emergency equipment such as beacons and probes.

Level II Avalanche Course 4 — Days
This course expands and elaborates on the basic skills of Level I, emphasizing snow pit analysis and evaluation in the field. The goals are to understand the variability and complexity of avalanche terrain, identify snow types and the processes or conditions that lead to them, performing instability tests and to apply objective decision making while traveling through avalanche terrain.

The AMGA is an organization grounded in powerful tradition that continues to evolve with the ever changing arena of mountain guiding and climbing instruction. We offer a series of training courses and exams designed to certify guides and climbing instructors to the highly respected, internationally recognized, standards of the AMGA.

Want to be a guide? Contact SMC!