Avalanche Awareness Programs Are Popular This Winter

Skiing, snowmobiling and snowboarding in the backcountry are very popular this winter. As the snowstorms sweep through the mountains from the Sierra Nevada and the Cascades on the West Coast through the Rockies, the snow layers keep shifting. With the increasing number of skiers, riders and snowmobilers triggering or getting caught in backcountry slides, a growing number of resorts are offering avalanche awareness clinics.

Copper Mountain and Winter Park resorts in Colorado offer ongoing avalanche awareness programs and training through the end of this ski season. At Copper you can spend a day with Mountain Guides who teach backcountry basics. At Winter Park’s Beacon Basin you learn to use a beacon to locate one of the transmitters that were buried by ski patrol.

Colorado Mountain School is running an Avalanche Awareness class March 9-11 at Winter Park Resort. During the 2 1/2-day course participants will learn how to travel more safely in and around avalanche terrain, practice comprehensive rescue skills and much more. The course is also offered on several other dates in Rocky Mountain National Park. For details call 888-267-7783 or visit Total Climbing. Kirkwood in California is running a six-hour Backcountry Awareness Clinic Sunday, March 11, introducing basic skills needed to venture into the backcountry. For details call Expedition HQ at 209-258-7360.