CO Front Range AAIRE Level I recommendations sought...

[SILENCER]

(considered posting this in Slide Zone, but thought more eyes would see this here)

I got mine from Eli Helmuth of Climbing Life Guides fame (who sadly closed up shop at RMNP and is now punching hurricanes in the face living in Puerto Rico, guiding rock these days).

I really enjoyed his up-to-date and progressive teaching material and style. Now, I have no "go to" person to recommend anymore and I get asked often. People tend to go with who they learned from, but who can objectively recommend a good course that is more "leading edge" (lousy term, I know) that I can send folks too? Teacher/student ratio is also a consideration too.

Sound off mags, thanks in advance.

[GPP33]

Most people probably only know the provider who they got theirs from, maybe their buddies. If you're up north, Diamond Peaks Ski Patrol is great, I haven't gone for a ride in an avy yet so they did something right! There's also some in RMNP (CMC, maybe Estes Park Mountain store?) and of course Friends of Berthoud Pass do a lot of avy education.

[GPP33]

(considered posting this in Slide Zone, but thought more eyes would see this here)

I got mine from Eli Helmuth of Climbing Life Guides fame (who sadly closed up shop at RMNP and is now punching hurricanes in the face living in Puerto Rico, guiding rock these days).

I really enjoyed his up-to-date and progressive teaching material and style. Now, I have no "go to" person to recommend anymore and I get asked often. People tend to go with who they learned from, but who can objectively recommend a good course that is more "leading edge" (lousy term, I know) that I can send folks too? Teacher/student ratio is also a consideration too.

Sound off mags, thanks in advance.

Good info on Eli, I was going to send someone looking for a rock climbing guide to him but couldn't find his website, then I remember seeing a couple years ago that he was selling his house. Puerto Rico eh? That's quite a change of scenery! Kinda sucks he pulled the website down though, he had some great pics of the bear lake area detailing lines and skin tracks.

[galibier_numero_un]

Good info on Eli, I was going to send someone looking for a rock climbing guide to him but couldn't find his website, then I remember seeing a couple years ago that he was selling his house. Puerto Rico eh? That's quite a change of scenery! Kinda sucks he pulled the website down though, he had some great pics of the bear lake area detailing lines and skin tracks.

Climbinglife.com

I was wondering how his business model changed. He shows only AMGA guide courses, along with rock along with private guiding.

... Thom

[adrenalated]

A friend teaches AIARE L1 with Apex Mountain School, seems to like it and the students seem to go away happy.

Not quite Front Range, but I had an excellent experience doing my L2 with Irwin Guides. Several other friends have done L1s with them and reported similar experiences.

Thanks GPP33 for mentioning Friends of Berthoud Pass - while FOBP does not teach AIARE L1, the avalanche awareness classes are certainly designed to be a great intro/preparation for L1 and are a good place to start.

[Lindahl]

I thought AWA did a great job with focusing on what seems to work best in Colorado - terrain selection, route/trip planning, and human factors.

[ffmedic84]

A friend teaches AIARE L1 with Apex Mountain School, seems to like it and the students seem to go away happy.

Not quite Front Range, but I had an excellent experience doing my L2 with Irwin Guides. Several other friends have done L1s with them and reported similar experiences.

Thanks GPP33 for mentioning Friends of Berthoud Pass - while FOBP does not teach AIARE L1, the avalanche awareness classes are certainly designed to be a great intro/preparation for L1 and are a good place to start.

Another vote for Apex. They were great. I'll be doing my rescue class with them as well. A little more expensive than some of the other schools I've looked at but they were well worth it.

[SILENCER]

Another vote for Apex. They were great. I'll be doing my rescue class with them as well. A little more expensive than some of the other schools I've looked at but they were well worth it.

Awesome, thanks fellas. I will investigate both Apex and AWA.

Adrenalated, FOBP is (obviously) who I recommend sight-unseen for someone's first "dabble" in the b/c. It's the perfect first step.

[SILENCER]

Good info on Eli, I was going to send someone looking for a rock climbing guide to him but couldn't find his website, then I remember seeing a couple years ago that he was selling his house. Puerto Rico eh? That's quite a change of scenery! Kinda sucks he pulled the website down though, he had some great pics of the bear lake area detailing lines and skin tracks.

His fam is okay from the last humdinger. No power, but they have a generator and he sent out a FB message that they're fine. Apparently all those rope skills had him buttressing his house pretty robustly, and their structure is fine too. Phew!

Total change of pace. We joked that even RMNP winds were no match for Maria. Hah!