Marine Corps Reference Publication MCRP 3-35.1B Mountain Leader’s Guide to Winter Operations US Marine Corps 11 July 2013

Marine Corps Reference Publication (MCRP) 3-35.1B, Mountain Leader’s Guide to Winter Operations, is a reference for trained winter mountain leaders to use during operations in snow. This publication is to be used with the Marine Corps’ mountain warfare and cold weather series doctrinal publications. It contains winter operations tactics, techniques, and procedures covering combat ski instruction and skills, crawls, firing positions, avalanche hazard assessment and mitigation, and crossing frozen waterways. It also covers, snow tracking and deception, skiborne patrolling considerations, and over-the-snow vehicle employment. Focusing on a standard method of instruction, this publication stresses only the cold weather skills necessary for Marines to go into combat.

Because of the rapid turnover in personnel, the many units that train annually, the multitude of training commitments, and the short winter season, the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center cannot train all scout skiers or units. Therefore, in combat, Marines may receive ski instruction from their unit’s qualified winter mountain leaders.

This publication supersedes MCRP 3-35.1B, Instructor’s Guide to Combat Skiing, dated
November 1991.

Chapter 1. Operations in Avalanche-Prone Terrain
Chapter 2. Winter Tracking
Chapter 3. Ice Reconnaissance
Chapter 4. Military Ski Equipment
Chapter 5. Ski Techniques
Chapter 6. Skijoring
Chapter 7. Ice Mobility and Countermobility
Chapter 8. Over-the-Snow Casualty Evacuation
Chapter 9. Over-the-Snow Vehicles
Chapter 10. Skiborne Firing Positions
Chapter 11. Snow Shelters
Chapter 12. Training
Appendix A Avalanche Decision-making Checklist
Appendix B Avalanche Data Observation Checklist