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 some of the world’s most elite mountain experts: official national authorities, top avalanche centers, mountain guides and athletes to offer in-depth, online snow safety education.
Through a series of high-quality videos, pictures, animations and self-tests, Mountain Academy students will gain fundamental information introducing them to variance in the snow pack, identifying different types of avalanches, and gaining the basic information about rescue tools and techniques. The curriculum will be developed through partnerships with the 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 self-tested as they go, reinforcing the information they have learned. Curriculum is accessible via direct payment, less than the cost of a lift ticket, or through purchasing qualified Atomic and Salomon product.
“It‘s a great online service that both Atomic and Salomon will be offering from fall 2015.” said Michael Schineis, President Winter Sports Equipment at Amer. “The Mountain Academy will help all powder and backcountry enthusiasts to make their skiing days more enjoyable, more fun and most importantly safer.”
“It’s great to see Atomic and Salomon come together to create this one-of-a-kind program,” said Mike Adams, Amer Sports Americas vice president of winter sports equipment. “Pairing education with top products like this is an industry first and we’re excited to lead the charge.”
The Mountain Academy is built around two online modules. The first module helps skiers ride safely out of bounds. It explains the essentials about snow safety, equipment, the different dangers and how to avoid them. The Mountain Academy’s second module gives skiers information they need to ride deeper in the backcountry. It’s a continuation of module one (which is recommended for skiers to go through first), and provides more in-depth information on types of snow, avalanche situations, different terrains and the gear skiers need when they’re participating in backcountry travel.
The goal of Mountain Academy is to make backcountry education accessible and affordable to everyone. Mountain Academy is not meant to replace avalanche, safety and gear training, but rather supplement it and direct participants to sign up for an in-person course in their area.
