Beacon practice range

Don't know if this was posted over the weekend or not, but just in case:

November 18, 2004

For Immediate Release

Avalanche Rescue Training System Opening at Snowbird

Free Rescue Training Center Will Improve Skills of Public, Professionals

Snowbird, Utah - North America's first fully automated avalanche rescue training facility simulating single and multiple buried avalanche victims will open soon in Little Cottonwood Canyon.

The Rescue Training Center, which will open Thursday, Dec. 9, at 10 a.m., will be open and free to the public throughout the winter. It will be located on Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort property near Wasatch Powderbird Guides and will include a control panel and buried transmitters to simulate avalanche victims. Users will select the number of "victims" for their practice session at the control panel and then receive computer-generated feedback at the completion of their search.

"This is the first facility of its kind in North America," said Dean Cardinale, Snowbird Assistant Director of Snow Safety and Wasatch Backcountry Rescue Director of Dog Training. "The Rescue Training Center brings professional avalanche rescue training to the public where it's accessible, easy and free."

Members of the media are invited to attend the opening of the Little Cottonwood Canyon Rescue Training Center Thursday, Dec. 9, at 10 a.m. Representatives of Wasatch Backcountry Rescue and the equipment manufacturer will be on hand for interviews. Take Little Cottonwood Canyon to Snowbird Entry 4 and follow the Bypass Road to Wasatch Powderbird Guides.

Wasatch Backcountry Rescue will install a similar avalanche training facility Dec. 16 near The Canyons. WBR's annual fund-raiser is at Park City's Club Suede Saturday, Dec. 18.

The Rescue Training Center is funded through Wasatch Backcountry Rescue, a volunteer organization made up of snow safety professionals and their avalanche rescue dogs from eight Utah resorts, UDOT, Park City Powdercats, the Utah Olympic Park and Wasatch Powderbird Guides working with Salt Lake, Utah and Summit county sheriff's offices. Wasatch Backcountry Rescue member resorts are Snowbird, Alta, Brighton, Solitude, Park City, The Canyons, Deer Valley and Snowbasin.

Backcountry users of all types will come together Jan. 31-Feb. 6, 2005, at Snowbird as part of the second annual Backcountry Awareness Week that will include a presentation by mountaineer and filmmaker David Breashears, Nepalese Sherpas, seminars, avalanche transceiver drills, and an evening fund-raiser to benefit the Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center as they support the "Know Before You Go" avalanche awareness program.

For more information on the Rescue Training Center, contact Dean Cardinale at (801) 933-2156 or go to www.wasatchbackcountryrescue.org. For information on Backcountry Awareness Week, contact Roger Kehr at
(801) 450-0454 or go to <http://www.backcountryawareness.com/>

thanks cololi. it's about time this idea came to fruition.

i'll be using this one as much as possible. my bc partners ought to be too.

This is just what I've been looking for to help hone my beacon skills.

Thank you for posting it cololi.

Free - the way safety should be

that is kick ass.