Day 1: Fundamentals and planning
We meet at the agreed meeting point and on the first day deal mainly with equipment, revising the fundamentals, and new developments or differing schools of thought. Practising avalanche transceiver search and companion rescue, and taking a look into the snowpack for a better understanding, also get plenty of attention. Afterwards we head somewhere warm – a bar, hotel or accommodation – and turn to the topic of tour planning.

Day 2: Training in the terrain
On this intensive avalanche course, the focus is on the complete process for ski tours you carry out independently. Together we work through everything – from tour planning, including choosing the right tour for the prevailing conditions, to carrying it out in full. On the tours themselves, we take the time to discuss everything we see in the terrain and anything of interest, and we also build in various exercises. The tours are kept fairly short so that the focus stays on the course and we can pass on as much as possible about ski touring and avalanche awareness. In the evening we review the day and discuss where our expectations from planning at home matched what we actually experienced on tour – and where they differed.

Day 3: Tour or practical training
The final day also takes place outdoors in the terrain. Whether we do a longer tour or take more time to practise is something we decide together, adapting it to the group's wishes. In the early afternoon, an intensive course comes to an end, with a great deal of practical input and wonderful days out in the snow, in which we have worked hard on our knowledge of avalanches, snow mechanics, tour planning and group dynamics – and will be a little safer on ski tours in future.