Mountain academy is now live!
Salomon and Atomic (both part of Amer Sports) have released a new on-line learning environment called "Mountain Academy". While this does not aim to replace formal avalanche safety and gear training, it is intended to supplement it and hopefully educate as many people as possible about identifying different types of avalanches, rescue tools and techniques. You can access the Mountain Academy at the following two web sites:
http://mountainacademy.salomon.com/en
http://mountainacademy.atomic.com/en
We'll be taking a look at the new Mountain Academy and will hopefully have some free VIP codes to give away shortly. Check back soon and you could be one of the lucky winners!
For more information have a read over the official press release:
Atomic and Salomon launch comprehensive online snow safety curriculum
The Mountain Academy was created in partnership with world’s foremost snow safety organizations
Atomic and Salomon, two of the world’s leading ski brands, have partnered to create Mountain Academy. Developed in collaboration with WePowder, Mountain Academy brings together elite mountain experts to offer indepth, online snow safety education through digital instruction.
Through a series of highquality videos, pictures, animations and selftests, Mountain Academy students gain fundamental knowledge in snowpack variables, identifying different types of avalanches, basic information about rescue tools and techniques. The curriculum has been developed through partnerships with top experts in avalanche education including: AIARE, the foremost avalanche curriculum organization running programs in South America, Europe and the US, UAC, NWAC and CAIC. Users are selftested as they go, reinforcing the information they’ve learned. Curriculum is accessible via a direct payment of $29 or through purchasing Atomic Backland and Automatic products or Salomon Quest and MTN products. All proceeds from Mountain Academy are directed to the north american Mountain Academy Fund to help benefit forecasting centers and avalanche organizations around the world.
“The ideal way to get the best lines and stay safe in steep terrain is to know something about avalanches,” says Paul Diegel, executive director of the Utah Avalanche Center. “Mountain Academy is a great new way to start learning how to make smart decisions in the backcountry.”
Mountain Academy is built around two online courses. Course one develops skiers awareness when interested in traveling out of bounds, explaining the essentials about snow safety, necessary equipment, various dangers in the backcountry and how to avoid them. Course two gives skiers information they need to go deeper into the backcountry. It’s a continuation of course one (which is recommended to complete first), and provides more indepth information on types of snow, avalanche situations and terrain characteristics seen when participating in backcountry travel.
Mountain Academy is not meant to replace avalanche safety and gear training, but rather supplement it and direct participants to sign up for an inperson course in their area.