Backcountry areas get avalanche beacon check stations

Three people died in avalanches last winter on the Glacier View-Hungry Horse Ranger District. The Forest Service, in partnership with the Flathead Nordic Ski Patrol, is hoping to change that.

Earlier this winter, avalanche beacon check stations were placed near popular snowmobiling trailheads and backcountry access points on Big Mountain. The check stations, which run on battery power, automatically check to see if a person’s avalanche transceiver is working — provided they are wearing one. The person just has to stop within range of the device. A green light indicates it’s working, a red light means it isn’t.

Signs also remind backcountry users to carry a shovel and a probe, provide quick tips on avalanche safety and provide the phone number and website for the Flathead Avalanche Center, which provides advisory updates. The beacon check stations cost about $300 apiece.

“Our goal is to increase awareness and decrease the number of avalanche-related deaths,” said Sadie Campbell, a recreation specialist with the ranger district.

The checkers have been used for years at recreation areas across the West, Campbell said, but this is the first time they’ve been installed in the Flathead. The units have been installed at the Canyon Creek, West Side Reservoir and Skyland trailheads, and at backcountry access points to Hellroaring Peak and Flower Point near Whitefish Mountain Resort. A new chairlift is planned to be built to the top of Flower Point, and construction could begin as early as this summer.

Campbell said too many skiers will think skiing off Flower Point into the Canyon Creek area is safe if they get there via a lift. While avalanche control is done inside the resort, the Canyon Creek area is out of bounds and has no avalanche control, she noted.

The Nordic Ski Patrol was planning on installing beacon checkers on Big Mountain on its own when it learned the Forest Service was doing the same work elsewhere, so the entities teamed up, said Steve Burglund, a Nordic Ski Patrol board member.

 So far this winter, three skiers were at least partially buried in backcountry avalanches. None died. Last year, an avalanche killed a snowbiker up the Skyland drainage. While the Skyland parties had transceivers, they didn’t have a shovel to dig out the victim after he was buried, Campbell noted.

People who are dug out quickly have been known to survive slides. For more information, visit online at www.flatheadavalanche.org or www.flatheadnordic.org.