The Flathead National Forest is hosting a free avalanche awareness and safety training program beginning Tuesday, January 3. The program, focused for down-hill and cross-country skiers, snowboarders, snowshoe enthusiasts and mountaineers, will consist of four evening lectures and two all-day field sessions.
The evening lectures will be Tuesdays and Thursdays January 3, 5, 10 and 12 at the Flathead National Forest Office in Northwest Kalispell, 650 Wolfpack Way, 6:30 – 9:30pm (located south of Glacier High School). The Saturday field sessions will be January 7 and 14.
Flathead National Forest Avalanche Specialist Stan Bones said, “The program will include information about avalanche terrain, mountain weather and snowpack, stability evaluation and decision making, and avalanche rescue.” Bones encourages participants to attend all sessions to gain maximum benefit. Registration is not required for the workshop but participants are encouraged to contact the Flathead National Forest 758-5284 or visit www.fs.usda.gov/flathead for more information.
REMINDER:
The Flathead National Forest issues avalanche advisories for Northwest Montana throughout the winter. Advisories are issued once a week, on Friday mornings until the last week of December, when they are issued Tuesday and Friday mornings (as weather conditions warrant) until April. Advisories include information about snowpack conditions, weather forecasts, and hazard evaluations.
Advisories are posted on the Flathead National Forest website, and on the Glacier Country Avalanche Center website, www.glacieravalanche.org.
The advisory can also be accessed by calling 406-257-8702. Anyone traveling in the backcountry will always need to make their own time and site specific avalanche hazard evaluations.
Jeff
Hiking in Glacier.com
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