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By mid-January over 2,400 people attended one of our 35 avalanche classes. Grade school and graduate students, skiers and snowmobilers, search and rescue groups, ski patrols and businesses attended classes, all there for the same thing—to learn about avalanches. Regardless of the user group, during the Q&A sessions people asked similar questions.  Here’s an attempt to answer the most common ones.

 During the New Year’s weekend of 2011/2012, avalanches killed 3 people.  Two of these fatalities 

 Snowmobiling in mountains is risky business.  Once a rider leaves the groomed trail and enters the 

Avalanches are deadly. They kill more people on public lands than fires, lightning, floods or any other natural event. In the last 10 years 114 snowmobilers have died in avalanches in the United States. Triggering a slide can be terrifying. Getting caught is horrific. Digging out your partner is hell. Assessing snow stability is a difficult skill that’s never mastered. Like every avalanche forecaster I spend most of my days studying snow, yet I still sometimes get it wrong. 

In the summers I decompress and try not to think about avalanches. The problem is that I’m almost too good at it. Even after 12 years of forecasting, each fall my brain is fuzzy and rusty when it comes to snow. It’s an annual predicament that I’ll never get used to, but luckily there’s a simple solution that works every October-- I teach an avalanche course. 

The Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center, in conjunction with the Friends of the GNFAC, is dedicated to providing avalanche education to all backcountry users that enjoy the vast outdoor resources of southwest Montana.

All of us at the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center--- Mark Staples, Eric Knoff and I, Doug Chabot--- want to thank you for a great year.  We are grateful for the community support of the Gallatin National Forest and Friends of the Avalanche Center.   This month finishes our 21^st year of operation with a record 145 avalanche advisories.