If you plan to get off the beaten path and into the backcountry this winter, you're going to want some avalanche training before you go. Right now, you can learn or sharpen up your avalanche transceiver skills for free at a Colorado park.
The Avalanche Transceiver Park at Frisco Adventure Park opened over the weekend and is a free place for you to acquire new winter skills or tune up on existing knowledge before heading out into the wilderness.
Multiple avalanche transceivers are buried in the snow at the park and you can come along with your beacon and probe and use the control station to activate the transceivers for practice locating someone who has been buried in a slide.
If you've never practiced using an avalanche beacon and probe, Summit County Rescue Group is holding a free public training event on Saturday, January 11th, from 10 a.m. till 2 p.m. You can also read our experiences of training at an avalanche transceiver park to get a better idea of what the training entails.
Why do you need avalanche training?
A backcountry skier in Colorado suffered significant injuries after triggering a slide in early December, and around the same time, a Colorado resort saw its largest inbounds avalanche in almost 20 years.
As we explain in our article on avalanche safety, a slide can occur on any slope of 30 degrees or more. Before going out skiing, snowboarding or even hiking in the backcountry, you should understand how to read an avalanche forecast and know the warning signs such as existing slides and cracking noises.
For skiing, invest in a ski backpack with airbags such as the Arva Airbag Reactor Calgary 18 and for all activities, bring an avalanche beacon, probe and shovel.
