Mountain Skills Academy & Adventures

MSAA traces its roots to 1991, when the business was called Whistler Alpine Guides Bureau, and it took the Mountain Skills Academy & Adventures name in 2015. Its guides hold IFMGA and ACMG certification. The office is in the Market Pavilion on Main Street in Whistler Village. Avalanche Canada's 2026/27 list shows 140 MSAA avalanche courses in the Vancouver and Sea to Sky area, and 64 of them run at Cypress.

The AST 1 Online is the option closest to Vancouver. Students work through four to six hours of self-paced lessons and an exam, then join a two-hour live session online the evening before the field day. That day runs from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm with a guide. Avalanche Canada's list puts the North Vancouver field days at Cypress Mountain from 8 December, at $249 midweek and $284 on weekends.

In Whistler, MSAA teaches the AST 1 Classic with a classroom day and a field day, and the AST 1 Plus with two days in the field. Avalanche Canada lists those at $324 to $364 from 21 November 2026, and a Squamish AST 1 at $364 starts on 28 November. The AST 2 spends three days in the field for $699. For $1,199 the hut-based AST 2 keeps students out for four days and three nights at an alpine hut with an ACMG/IFMGA guide.

Past the courses, MSAA guides backcountry ski and splitboard taster days from November to April. It also runs heli-accessed touring days and three-day trips such as the Spearhead Traverse, and a Powder Punch Card bundles guided days for regulars.