Sawtooth Avalanche Center season opener

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - With more winter weather on the way, the Sawtooth Avalanche Center will start doing its daily back country avalanche forecasts on Monday. 

Forecasts are issued each morning by 7:30 a.m. and are available on the website as well as by email subscription. On weekday mornings, you can also tune into KECH 95.3 FM or KDPI 88.5 FM to hear a quick summary of the current avalanche conditions.

The Sawtooth NF Facebook page has daily updates too. Longtime avalanche center partner The Friends of the SAC also post conditions and events information on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (@ or # sawtoothavy).

People looking to spend time in the back country are encouraged to check them out before they head out.

While waiting for storms to dump enough snow to ride and slide in the hills, you can view or download its Annual Report: https://www.sawtoothavalanche.com/2020-21-annual-report/.

New developments at the Sawtooth Avalanche Center (SAC) include:

1. Expanded Forecast area: Thanks to support from the Friends of the Sawtooth Avalanche Center, we have the required staffing to cover our expanded forecast area. This recent expansion nearly doubled our coverage area, adding additional terrain on the Sawtooth, Boise, and Salmon-Challis National Forests near Banner Summit and Stanley, Smiley Creek, Atlanta, and Carey. This increased our coverage area to over 2 million acres (1.15 million acres previously).
2. Website improvements: Thanks to generous funding from the Ferris and Minor families and the Nicholas Martin Jr. Family Foundation in addition to support from the Friends of the SAC, we created new website products and improved the existing platform at www.sawtoothavalanche.com. We added tools to easily visualize patterns in recent avalanche activity and Observations and made it easier to navigate and search the existing Observations and Avalanche data. If you haven’t tried it, check out our “one-stop-shop” Trip Planner tool on the website home page. It provides users with the Avalanche Forecast, relevant Observations, recent avalanche activity, and a point-specific weather forecast for any location of their choosing. The ultimate result: make it easier for users to get the information they need to stay safe while playing in the mountains.
3. Additional Avalanche Rescue Training Parks: The City of Ketchum and the Friends of the SAC partnered to secure another rescue training park at Atkinsons Park in Ketchum. We’ll install the new Atkinsons Park facility and the existing Avalanche Rescue Training Park at the NW end of the Baker Creek parking lot on HWY75 when we receive more snow. The Training Parks are free; all you need is an avalanche beacon and probe. These are great community tools to improve your avalanche beacon skills. In conjunction with the Friends of the SAC, we hope to offer free Rescue Clinics later this season - visit the website and stay tuned for dates and times. The Sun Valley Ski Patrol plans to set their existing beacon training park as well as a new, 2^nd installation as soon as snow depths permit. They provide an excellent opportunity to practice your skills on your skis or board.
4. Nationwide Forecast template: The USFS National Avalanche Center and several major USFS avalanche centers across the western U.S. pooled resources to develop a common Avalanche Forecast template and mechanism to insert the Forecast into any avalanche center website. The majority of USFS avalanche centers will be using the SAC-developed platform this year. This collaborative effort maximizes avalanche centers’ financial resources while improving consistency among avalanche center products, making it easier for recreationists to understand and use the products to stay safe.   

The SAC covers over 3,200 square miles and typically has one or two forecasters in the field daily. Information from other backcountry users is critical to producing accurate Avalanche Forecasts. There are several ways to submit observations:

• Backcountry travelers can post their observations on the SAC website at https://www.sawtoothavalanche.com/submit-observation/.
• Email. Email photos and text to info@sawtoothavalanche.com.
• SMS (Text). Text and images can be sent via SMS to (208) 481-5921.
• Social Media. Backcountry users can use the hashtag #sawtoothavy on Instagram and Twitter when posting about their day or send a Facebook message to @sawtoothavy. Interested users can also follow the #sawtoothavy hashtag to see what others are observing in the backcountry.