Canada West Mountain School

We took AST-1 with instructor Fraser.He did a great job of leading the online session, and an even better job during the field days. Highly recommend taking this course, especially if you can get Fraser as an instructor. He is going to make a great ACMG guide one day!

I just finished CWMS's AST-1 Snowshoe course. I'd spent a lot of time looking into different AST courses in the area but I am so happy I went with them. Our instructor Brent was super knowledgeable and a very enjoyable person to be around and learn from. The days were both a lot of fun and the information was presented in a way that was very easy to digest and remember. I feel like I have a fantastic foundation of avalanche safety and the course went above and beyond my expectations. I would recommend this course to anyone curious in getting into avalanche terrain.

Did the Summer Crevasse Rescue Course with the instructors extraordinaire Brian and Harry! Camped up near the Brandywine Glacier and practiced in situ crevasse rescue. Would highly recommend this course and these guides to anyone interested in learning glacier and mountain safety. Learned a lot and it was all easily digestible and everything learned was practiced, so it will hopefully stick :)

We did an intro to rock climbing course with Terry in Squamish last weekend. We had two dads and two boys ages 12 and 13. Terry was fantastic! Very knowledgeable and great at explaining both safety aspects and climbing technique. Thanks for a great day! highly recommend.

I did the 7 day alpine skills course August 2022. The guides were the best, very experienced, very knowledgeable, and great teachers.My goals going in were to gain a certain level of confidence so I could push further into the mountains. I believe I achieved this and much more.The structure of the course was well thought out and presented in a way that made it very easy to digest the vast amounts of information. Brian is an excellent teacher and guide, also a super nice person.I would recommend this course and Canada West Mountain School to anyone interested in gaining the skills to be safe in the mountains.

I've attended Canada West for a number of courses including Intro to Lead Climbing, Crevasse Rescue, and AST-1. Each instructor that I've had with this school was professional, attentive, and extremely knowledgable! Would highly recommend!

Did an Intro to Mountaineering course with Brian and Lelsey, and will always go back to this company for instruction, guides and trips. The most knowledge and relevant staff for what you want to learn, complete safety at all times, easy to organize, so helpful and fun. Instructors go above and beyond, and create a great group dynamic. Highly recommend. Will be seeing this crew for more adventures! Thanks guys, for such a great adventure, and new skills!

My first backcountry ski trip was amazing - I'm really glad to have done it with Canada West Mountain School. The School owner (our guide) was extremely experienced and knowledgeable and provided us with tips on how to prepare for an overnight ski trip (food, clothing, gear), tips on winter camping, basic avalanche training, safety awareness knowledge, and backcountry ski technique. The environment was fun and friendly and conducive to learning. I'd highly recommend the School to anyone looking to get into backcountry skiing or winter camping.

We did our AST-1 with West Mountain School last weekend and are very satisfied with the whole experience and the knowledge we acquired. On the field day, our instructor Andy delivered the content of the course and instructions in a clear way with just the right amount of details and context. He made sure to vary the different rescue practices, adding different variables each time so that we have the chance to experience different situations that can happen in the backcountry. We definitely felt we were in good hands and had access to a lot of knowledge. We appreciated Andy's great teaching skills and his general kindness. Looking forward to take First Aid and Navigation courses with West Mountain School in the future!

Very thankful that I took the AST1 course before stepping into the backcountry. Our guide Brent is very knowledgeable and with a great sense of humour. We had a small group which gave instructor the chance to work with us one on one.