Avy Class Recommendation? Gary Brill or Whistler?

I am trying to decide whether to do a privately organized Avy 1 class either in the Seattle or Whistler area. Anyone know where the schools are better? I've heard the Gary Brill course is great, but am wondering if it is better than the ones in Whistler (since it seems quite a bit more expensive than those in Whistler). Thanks!

I took Gary's class 3 winters ago and just had the god fortune to unearth the text he prepared for it in the course of moving. I would recommend Garys fro 2 reasons: A) he is highly knowledgeble, and , that knowledge is localized to the Cascades, which is valuable in it's own right.

I'm not 100% certain, but I heard that Gary retired.

I steered my daughter to Gary's course this year and we discovered that though the "Gary Brill" course continues, Gary no longer teaches it. I didn't sit through the course, so I can't comment on it, but I will say that the materials she brought back were top notch.

-Dave R

You should also consider Pro Guiding or Baugher/IMG course at Crystal

Gary Brills class is now taught by Donald Langlois  who is  very knowledgeable about the cascade snowpack and a all around good guy. www.ridgeexplorations.com
Paul Baugher is also very qualified but if im correct you would have to wait until next season to take his class. mountainguides.com/