At the beacon park near Coal Creek trailhead, a stone’s throw from the Idaho-Wyoming stateline, Tait Bjornsen directed a class of backcountry recreators to locate up to eight signals in an avalanche simulation.
The programs director with Teton Backcountry Alliance said it’s an extreme scenario.
“Hopefully in real life, [this many burials] would never happen, but you can practice that way,” he said.
Minutes are everything when an avalanche strikes in the backcountry. That’s why a crucial part of avalanche education focuses on cutting back the time it takes to deploy safety gear and locate the buried.
Practicing rapid rescue deployment doesn’t have to stop after an avalanche class. That’s what beacon parks are for.
In various parts of the Tetons, backcountry enthusiasts can find colorful wooden boxes, often fixed to trees, with switchboards inside. With the flip of a switch, up to eight buried signals are emitted within a quarter-mile radius for skiers and riders to seek with the help of their beacons, shovels and probes.
Wyoming records on average two avalanche-related deaths each season and this season has been no exception. The Bridger-Teton forecast region surpassed that number less than halfway through the winter season, leaving the backcountry community a somber reminder of the consequences of recreating when the snow is unstable.
After it snows again on old snow following weeks of high pressure, that risk may only grow more pronounced.
Teton Backcountry Alliance and Yöstmark Backcountry Tours of Driggs, Idaho, have been hosting a series of free clinics to help skiers, riders and snowmobilers keep skills fresh this winter. Those skills have focused on single-beacon searches, multi-beacon searches and scene management for the aftermath of a slide.
To brush up and master your skills, look no further than one of the four beacon parks in the region, according to a list compiled by the Backcountry Alliance:
- Rendezvous Park in Wilson: in the southeast corner closest to the boat ramp (sponsored by the Jarad Spackman Memorial Fund).
- Coal Creek on Teton Pass: 75 yards north of the parking area (sponsored by Backcountry Access and Teton Backcountry Alliance).
- Rendezvous Bowl Beacon Basin: at the bottom of Rendezvous Bowl to the south of Rendezvous Trail (sponsored by Jackson Hole Mountain Resort).
- Snow King: just South of the top of the Summit Lift, at the ski area boundary line (sponsored by Backcountry Access and Snow King Ski Patrol).
