Alaska Avalanche School - Anchorage, Alaska

Joshua Tokita

I recently completed the Level 1 course at the Alaska Avalanche School, and I couldn't be more impressed with the entire experience. The instructors were not just fantastic; they were incredibly thorough and knowledgeable about avalanche safety and backcountry skiing. Despite enduring three days of sub-zero temperatures, the course was not only informative but also remarkably fun and enjoyable. The instructors' passion for their craft shone through, making the learning process engaging and interactive. Thanks to this course, I now have a newfound confidence when skiing in the backcountry, armed with the knowledge and skills I gained from the Alaska Avalanche School. I highly recommend their courses to anyone seeking to explore the beauty of the backcountry safely while having a great time doing so.

Jessie Janowski

I have taken a level 2 avalanche course. My instructors were amazing. They were knowledgeable, added excitement to the dull portions of the curriculum, and taught me the skills I need to travel in avalanche terrain. I would recommend their instruction to others.

Peter Wadsworth

I took the Rec Level 2 and the Mountain Weather Forecasting class with AK Avy School. Both were excellent classes. The level of experience of the instructors is so high - not just in the subject matter (avalanches, mtn safety, meteorology, etc), but in actual teaching. It's one thing for a person to be an expert, it's an entirely different skillset for that expert to be able to *teach*, and that's what I got at the AK Avy School: good teachers.
I also really appreciated the easy refund policy for COVID issues, no one wants to be in a class with a sick person, so they make it easy for people to bow out and not risk getting the rest of us sick.

Rob

I took a Pro1 Avalanche course with the school and felt very prepared to operate in the professional avalanche industry. The instructors are leaders in their field, excellent teachers and the school staff was very accommodating and helpful.

Tristan Odonoghue

In my opinion, this organization should be renamed the south central Alaska avalanche school because of their reluctance to be willing to serve the whole state of Alaska in an effective manner. I took an Avi 1 class with them at the Black Rapids lodge, 2 hrs south of Fairbanks, and found the instructor for my group, Brian Kramp, to be largely disorganized as well as it would turn out blameful of new students to his bosses for getting lost under his care during the class. A fact I know not to be true even coming from his own words following the incident. I found the online portions of the class (I.e low quality private YouTube videos) to be incredibly sub-par compared to what is FREE on the same platform. While I know other instructors that teach for the school personally and could vouch for their professionalism, I somehow can’t shake the feeling that this organization overall has become too comfortable in their own work to provide its students with the highest quality avalanche education possible. I know it may seem hard to believe but after my experience I can honestly say you’re better off putting that $500 registration fee towards a health insurance policy for when you get caught in an avalanche as opposed to trusting this organization with your safety education.

Rachel C