Avalanche 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.

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

  • 20+ years of avalanche instructing

  • 20+ years of ski guiding

  • 30+ years of backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering

Some of Joe’s Avalanche Publications

  • 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.