Avalanche Courses

Public Courses

Join me for an avalanche class! I teach public avalanche courses in December and January with Alaska Guide Collective. Booking starts on October 1 at the AGC Avalanche Booking page.

Private Courses

Please contact me about a private course. I can teach Rec 1, Rec 2, Rescue, refreshers and custom courses for your group. Joe can take five students by himself, or up to 10 with another instructor.

  • 1 client: $700 per day

  • 2 clients: $400 per person per day

  • 3 clients: $300 per person per day

  • 4+ clients: $250 per person per day (second instructor will be added over five students)

Joe’s knowledge in one volume

Joe’s Field Book

Course gear list

Joe's Qualifications To Be Your Avalanche Instructor

  • IFMGA-licensed Mountain Guide

  • AMGA-certified Ski, Rock and Alpine Guide

  • Certified American Avalanche Association instructor

  • American Avalanche Association Pro 1 and Pro 2 instructor

  • Pro 2 examined

  • WFR and CPR certified

  • Decades of avalanche instructing

  • Decades of ski guiding

  • Decades of backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering

Some of Joe’s Avalanche Publications

  • Avalanche Writing that Doesn’t Bury Your Readers, The Avalanche Review, 43.3, 2025.

  • Luck and Avoiding Avalanches, The Avalanche Review, 42.4, 2024.

  • Avalanche Uncertainty Scale, The Avalanche Review, 2024.

  • Avoiding Avalanches in Remote Alaska, The Avalanche Review, 2021.

  • Learning from Mistakes—Train your Intuition to Make Good Decisions in Avalanche Terrain, The Avalanche Review, Feb 2018. 

  • Your System—An Individualized Approach to Avoiding Avalanches, The Avalanche Review, April 2016. 

  • Mind the Red Flags—Avoid Avalanches by Recognizing the Warning Signs, Coast, Jan 2016.

  • The Importance of Failure—The Art of Learning from our Follies, Off-Piste, March 2015. Reprinted in The Avalanche Review.

  • Communication Methods for Avalanche Terrain, AIARE Newsletter, pages 9-11, Summer 2010.

  • Decision Making Framework, Backcountry, March 2009.

  • Avoid the Big Ride—Learn to Read Avalanche Slopes. Climbing, 2000.

  • Avalanche Trigger: Artificial Elk, The Avalanche Review, 1(1): 4. 1997. Reprinted in: The Beacon, winter 1998.

  • The temporal variations of near-surface faceted crystals, Red Mountain Pass Corridor, Colorado. Poster presentation at the 1998 International Snow Science Workshop.

  • Near-surface faceted crystals and their effect on snow stability, Red Mountain Pass Corridor, Colorado. Proceedings of the 66th Western Snow Conference, 1998.

  • Avalanches and Climbing—The Human Factor, Rock & Ice, vol 82, 1997.