Backcountry and avalanche kit: training first, then the standards.

Training comes first: the courses, named

This site names avalanche courses and does not describe what they teach, and it recommends no course provider or guide.

• AIARE (American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education) describes a recreational sequence: Avalanche Awareness, Avalanche Rescue (one day), AIARE 1 (24 hours, no prerequisites), the AIARE 1 Refresher and AIARE 2, which requires AIARE 1 and Avalanche Rescue or equivalent. AIARE says its courses are taught through certified providers in 13 US states and in Argentina, France and China.
• Avalanche Canada lists AST 1 (at least two days, no prerequisites), the AST 1 Refresher, Companion Rescue Skills, Managing Avalanche Terrain, AST 1+ and AST 2. It designs the AST courses, independent providers it licenses deliver them, and it says it does not supervise the instructors or their courses.

What the avalanche centres publish

Avalanche danger is published on five-level scales, and the names differ across the Atlantic. The North American Public Avalanche Danger Scale runs 1 Low, 2 Moderate, 3 Considerable, 4 High, 5 Extreme (Avalanche.org). The European scale published by EAWS runs 1 Low, 2 Moderate, 3 Considerable, 4 High, 5 Very high; the 2018/19 European scale is the one in force. EAWS voted in June 2025 to send a new scale to consultation, with a final vote planned for the end of October 2026; no result had been found when this guide was written. EAWS attributes around 50 percent of avalanche fatalities to danger level 3. How to read or act on a rating is a matter for a course, not this page; more is on avalanches as published.

The deaths are counted by the centres. The Colorado Avalanche Information Center records 22 US avalanche deaths in 2024-25 and 23 in 2025-26, and counts backcountry tourers as the largest group of US avalanche deaths from 2016-17 to 2025-26 (89). The SLF in Switzerland reports that most avalanche deaths there now involve people in backcountry or off-piste activities.

The equipment, and the standard behind each

No CEN or ISO standard for probes or shovels was found, and whether EN 16716 is being revised was not confirmed. An avalanche airbag pack is a different product from the airbag protector FIS requires in alpine speed racing, which is a crash-impact protector under FIS specifications. In ski mountaineering races, the ISMF (Rules and Guidelines 2025-26) lists a transceiver to EN 300 718 with three receiving antennas, a shovel, a probe and a survival blanket as compulsory equipment for team and individual races; that is a race rule for one discipline.

Touring skis, bindings, boots and helmets

• Bindings: ISO 13992:2014 covers alpine touring bindings for children, juniors and adults (listed in search results as reviewed and confirmed in 2026; unconfirmed). Bindings are set by a binding technician; no release values or setting steps are given here.
• Boots: ISO 9523:2023 covers rigid-soled touring boots that attach at toe and heel, and excludes softer-shelled boots such as telemark boots.
• Helmets: for its races the ISMF requires UIAA 106 plus EN 1077 class B, or EN 12492 plus EN 1077 class B.
• Skins: no standard was found; in ISMF races, skins from wild animals are forbidden and skins must cover at least 40 percent of the ski's snow-contact length.
• Splitboards: Wikipedia describes them as snowboards that separate into two ski-like halves for climbing.

Recalls

Backcountry kit has been recalled. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission announced avalanche-transceiver recalls on 12 April 2021 (units that could switch modes unexpectedly; one death and one avalanche incident with injuries reported in British Columbia), 27 February 2025 (a fuse fault that could drain the battery) and 6 March 2025 (switch corrosion that could shut the unit off), and a touring-binding recall on 9 November 2023 (a toe component that could fail). The models and remedies are on recalls; second-hand kit is worth checking against them.

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