Replying to Help Me Not Die: A Noob's Guide to AT/Touring

What's up NS, used the pathetic excuse for a searchbar and couldn't find a similar thread, sorry if repost... first let me preface with the following:

I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT AT/TOURING, AND ANYONE WHO POSTS IN THIS THREAD WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANYONE'S ACTIONS RELATED TO SAID ADVICE/COMMENTS/OPINIONS



Alright so let's get down to it. These are the fairly obvious things I already know:

1. I need a beacon/shovel/probe

2. I need to take an avalanche certification class to recognize snow stability and how to use beacon/shovel/probe

3. I need AT binders+skins



Feel free to answer/expand with any useful knowledge you think you might have to share, but these are my specific, mostly Salomon Guardian-related questions:

1. If I buy Guardians, are AT boots an absolute necessity? Can I still use SPKs if I'm only planning relatively short, lazy-man tours? I realize I probably sound like an idiot parkrat but there's no way around how happy my feet are in mah SPKs :)

2. Again, I probably sound like a parkrat so if you dont like it... fuck you. I heard that landing switch on Guardian's can make for a bad time, true or false? Do all AT binders have issues riding switch? I want to channel all that is Nimbus into my sidecountry shred, so switch performance is a must.

3. Where in the greater SLC/PC area holds a good on-snow avalanche safety class? When are they available?



Again, any and all advice/recommendatins are welcome, even if unrelated to my specific questions. Thanks NS!