American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE)

AIARE develops and disseminates avalanche course materials to avalanche educators in the United States, South America and Europe. There are over 90 course providers and 300 instructors representing AIARE internationally.classroom We gather the latest knowledge, research and ideas in avalanche safety and create avalanche training courses that reflect the needs of today’s backcountry travelers. AIARE provides ongoing continuing education to our instructor group and instructors maintain currency by attending requisite continuing professional development courses on a regular basis. We are a 501(c)3 nonprofit educational organization operating as such since 1998. Why AIARE? Prior to AIARE, there was no nationally recognized curriculum for avalanche education in the USA. The American Avalanche Association (AAA) has ‘recommended guidelines’ that AIARE adheres to however the AAA distributes no unified curriculum. We support the AAA and all AIARE instructors are members of the AAA. There are many avalanche courses and programs available outside of AIARE, but in large part those course providers operate according to their own personal beliefs and ideas. There are few means for the public to assess the quality of an avalanche course or instructor. AIARE develops and distributes a curriculum to AIARE course providers and sets a minimum standard for avalanche instructors.