The Utah Avalanche Center and the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association will hold a state of the snowpack address Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., an event timed just days after a skier died in an avalanche in the backcountry Friday.
The address will be given by UAC forecaster Craig Gordon and will be streamed live from Backcountry.com’s headquarters in Park City. It can be accessed at backcountry.zoom.us/j/95338977600.
“Every year, as part of our outreach, the union holds an avalanche seminar in conjunction with the Utah Avalanche Center to help the community understand what’s happening in the backcountry, usually tailored to that season,” said Joe Naunchik, president of the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association. “This year it’s timely, it’s important and we feel it’s always good to let the community know what’s going on in the backcountry and how to be as safe as possible accessing it and using it.”
Avalanche safety and preparedness are especially important this season, according to Chad Brackelsberg, executive director of the nonprofit Utah Avalanche Center. In September and again in December, Brackelsberg said the limited capacity at resorts would likely mean more users — and more inexperienced users, to boot — in the backcountry this winter.
The center will post much of its educational content online this year in an effort to reach more people, Brackelsberg said.
To register for the state of the snowpack address, visit utahavalanchecenter.org.