MTN Sense Dream Winter
What are your goals this ski season? If you're like me, the pursuit of great goals is motivating. We want to help you create and achieve your goals this winter with the help of Dream Winter! This Club will teach you skills, evaluate you performing those skills, and then invite you to go on rad adventures together. Jump on board!
Benefits
- Hone essential skills to stay safer on challenging ski lines.
- Prove you're a competent backcountry ski partner.
- Being tested on specific skills + Performance feedback from a pro = deliberate practice. 10,000 hours only works if it's deliberate practice.
- Confidence Booster: skill based & competence-founded.
- 3rd party evaluation and encouragement prunes away "Just Okay" and nurtures the GOOD, so your GREAT can fluish.
- Ride the wave of your cohort's energy! Replace "one day" with "Day One!"
Dream Winter Progression
- 1) - You'll have access to five MTN Sense online courses.
- 2) - Successfully demonstrate 20 skills on camera or in person in Revelstoke during November.
- 3) - IFMGA Mountain Guide, Mark Smiley, gives performance feedback via video, and in person.
- 4) - Come skiing in Revelstoke any (or all) Thursdays and Fridays of February 2026.
Rad Rope Skills
Trip Planning Progression
Slay The Best Powder
Crevasse Rescue
Navigation
What Sets Us Apart?
- Mark Smiley will personally review each of your exercises and give feedback.
- Join for skills days in Revelstoke BC Canada this November. Learn while skiing rad lines.
- Everyone in the program will have passed a minimum standard of excellence and proficiency. You don't have to be Superman, but you can't be kook.
- Belong to something that is new, exciting, and driven to make positive change in your season.
- Consult with a IFMGA Mountain Guide before you tackle your big goal line.
- Testimonial from Ben Coffman, 2023/24 Member
Dream Winter Progression
- Smartphone Navigation
- Crevasse Rescue Made Easy
- The Ultimate Guide To Backcountry Ski Mountaineering
- Avalanche Safety: A Comprehensive Course
- Beyond Level One
With the power of film and video you will demonstrate your proficiency in 25 different areas. From skiing, to rigging a hauling system, finding buried beacons and more. Feedback will be provided on each assignment directly from Mark Smiley via a video call. We will also go over these skills in person during the November meetup in Revelstoke, BC.
Before the snow gets deep, we will have a skills meet up in Revelstoke in November. Then we will finish all the course content before Christmas. Every Thursday and Friday of February 2026 we can meet up to ski in Revelstoke, BC. Rogers Pass and the Monashee Mountains are second to none.
Enroll Here
- Complete the video course on your schedule. Reference lessons in the future.
- Ask Mark Smiley direct questions.
- Complete the video course on your schedule. Reference lessons in the future.
- Ask Mark Smiley direct questions.
- Complete the video course on your schedule. Reference lessons in the future.
- Ask Mark Smiley direct questions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Every lesson has a place for questions, and Mark will reply personally. We will meet twice a month, from Nov 15 - May 15, via Zoom. The mountain meet-ups will also be a great time to connect and ask questions in real time.
The fitter you are the easier it is to drive your skis downhill, thus, increasing the fun level. Your fitness, nor your skiing ability, is a limitation to join the Club. We all have things we can work on. Use the Club to stay motivated and get in rockin' good shape. Some badges will only be earned by those that achieve certain physical requirements for that badge (eg- ski 5,000 or 10,000 feet in 24hours).
Simple click enroll and follow the steps.
You will get a coupon code to give to a friend or family member to get them in that course as well! Merry Christmas to them!
Each person will have personal goals. Choose to invite others to join, or don't. The decision is yours. There will be cohorts in different regions, and the potential exists to meet and mesh with another member in your area, but this is 100% voluntary.
This is better. Mark Smiley can provide a letter of recommendation for those that have completed this program regarding your personal level of avalanche education proficiency. Which will likely be enough to qualify for Rec Level 2 or Pro 1 course. But MTN Sense can not claim that outright, as there are many organizations that control the language around "avalanche course".
Who is Mark Smiley?
Mark Smiley's passion for adventure has taken him on 30+ expeditions on five continents. He and his wife, Janelle, are the only people that have attempted to climb all 50 Classic Climbs of North America (48 successfully). He was part of a team to set a world record skiing across the entire Alps Mountain Range (1100 miles and 292,000 vertical feet) in a mere 36 days.
His avalanche safety training style is fun, mellow, and easy to understand. As an IFMGA Certified Mountain Guide, Mark Smiley is among the world's elite guides to have reached this status. More important than this certification is his candid style of conveying the best avalanche skills training techniques that will benefit you the most.
Victor Caldua was a friend and mountain guide and father who died in an avalanche while climbing Alpamayo, Peru. He left behind a wonderful wife, Alicia, and two amazing and talented daughters, Vanessa and Estefani. 10% of the profit from this course will be gifted to Victor's family for their education expenses. Vanesse wants to be an engineer and Estefani wants to be a mountain guide.
Sept 1, 2023 Update: $10,000+ sent to Victor's family, to help with school expenses. We are committed to supporting their needs indefinitely. As more people enroll, his kids' education prospects increase.
