NOVEMBER 22, 2024|
Photo – Avalanche danger scale – Courtesy avalanche.org
The Carbon County Sheriff’s Office has established a volunteer avalanche educational team to promote winter safety.
During Tuesday’s Board of Carbon County Commissioners meeting, Sheriff Alex Bakken informed the board that he has created a new avalanche educational program with two goals in mind. Given the popularity of snowmobiling in Carbon County, Sheriff Bakken said the primary goal of his new program is to educate winter sports enthusiasts about backcountry safety.
Sheriff Bakken said the second goal of the program is to keep Search and Rescue volunteers up to date on avalanche conditions in the county.
The sheriff explained that the new avalanche information team is made up of eight volunteers, four from his department and four from Carbon County Search and Rescue. The volunteers will be paid through a grant from the United States Forest Service.
Sheriff Bakken said he hopes to begin conducting avalanche observations early in December.
The announcement of the avalanche educational team comes two months after the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office received a $65,000 grant from the local tourism board to establish an avalanche forecasting center for the Snowy Range and Sierra Madre Mountains. Currently, Carbon County has no way to predict avalanches outside of having someone physically check snow conditions in the area.
