Alaska Guide School: Preface
Welcome to our 2012 Alaska Heliskiing Guide School brought to you by Alaska Heliskiing. Alaska Heliskiing has achieved a productive forum that enables us to educate students about the helicopter skiing business and allows the participants to further develop their backcountry abilities and skills. We also use this course as a refresher for returning guides and a required training experience for anybody who wants to guide for us, even if they are very skilled and experienced. We require this course for any new guide to ensure quality control, communication consistencies, and as a part of our Risk Management and Safety Plan.
*An excellent component of this school is our ability to offer the students and guide trainees with discounted heli-time. This includes, but is not limited to guide-pilot training, which allows us the opportunity to become a tighter, more efficient working team. This is a very important aspect of guiding heliskiing, as there is a lot more to it than just guiding clients down a mountain. Heliskiing is dangerous, but with professional training and proper execution of learned skills we can make it very exciting and unforgettable for the clients that you will guide down the legendary slopes of Alaska. In this course students and guide trainees will have the chance to demonstrate their new and old skills and ride seriously epic vertical feet, and keep in mind that's at the discounted rate! The following pages focus on providing participants with a general overview of what they should expect in this course.
There are several aspects to this course that are all equally important. We will learn about the techniques used in the backcountry to assess and determine slope stability, terrain analysis, and avalanche forecasting. We will learn how to use Alaska Heliskiings' emergency medical equipment and package and transport a patient out of the backcountry. We will learn glacier travel, crevasse rescue, and general rope handling skills. Additionally we will learn about the tools of our transportation, the A-Star B-2, and the incredible pilots that fly them. Active scenarios will enable the students and guide trainees to become familiar with Alaska Heliskiing's rescue gear, practice mountaineering techniques in typical guide situations experienced during heliskiing, and of course to prepare them for the always possible atypical situation. All of these instructional aspects will be conducted both in and out-of-doors. The days are long and the students and guide trainees should come prepared everyday for outdoor activities, including bringing food and the proper equipment. Also due to the nature of the weather, we often don't know when we will fly until the last moment, so be prepared at any moment to go heliskiing.
