The Forest Service’s Utah Avalanche Center usually closes each April when winter storms typically stop.
Not true this year. There is still a need for reliable information about backcountry conditions for skiers, so the center is staying open through April 24 with funding from Backcountry.com.
Ironically, the snowfall making their service valuable has also made it one of the safest winters in years, said Director Bruce Tremper.
Winters with less snowfall create a thin, unstable snowpack that can crumble and slide.
“We’ve had a deep, stable, thick snow pack. The kind of weather you want for safe avalanche conditions is it snows early and doesn’t stop all winter long,” he said. “We have that in the Wasatch range.”
The snowpack is usually most stable in spring, when it’s wet and heavy, but because of the warming and freezing temperatures of recent weeks, the backcountry could be unstable right now.
The only two avalanche fatalities this winter have been in areas outside of the Wasatch range: the Uinta Mountains and near Manti, he said.
Marit Fischer, spokeswoman for Backcountry.com, said the company has always been supportive of avalanche prevention.
“The company was founded by backcountry skiers. These are our roots,” she said.
In addition to it being a relatively safe season, the avalanche center had good success using social media. For the first time, the center’s staff posted input from the public online for everyone to see.
The center has always welcomed input from people in the backcountry about what they’ve seen via telephone or email. This year the staff began sharing it and it’s been a welcom feature, Tremper said, adding that it’s become a sort of moderated forum. It can be found in the “current conditions” section at utahavalanchecenter.org.
The non-profit group that owns the website and raises funds for the center began using Twitter this season and is in its second year of maintaining a Facebook page.
Paul Diegel, executive director of The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, said the Facebook page allows the non-profit to communicate with followers on a daily basis without confusing the important avalanche information.
In addition to announcing fundraising events or other ways to support the center, Diegel said he tries to pass on news and other information interesting to backcountry enthusiasts. Social media allows him to do this without cluttering the center’s webpage. He currently has about 3,000 followers.
“Social media is made for what we do. There’s new information every day and people want to give feedback,” he added.
Facebook.com/utah.avalanche.center