Season Highlights •
Our first General Avalanche Information product was issued on November 6th. Daily Backcountry Avalanche Forecasts started on December 13th and continued through April 11th. In total, we produced 120 Backcountry Avalanche Forecasts in addition to 12 General Avalanche Information updates.
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Our Forecasts received over 340,000 views via the web and email subscriptions, a 25% increase over the previous season.
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Use of the SAC website was driven by people from Ketchum, Boise, and Salt Lake City accounting for 28%, 12%, and 8% of our web traffic this season.
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We issued 8 AVALANCHE WARNINGS and 12 days of HIGH avalanche danger (compared to 3 AVALANCHE WARNINGS and 10 days of HIGH danger last year).
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Beginning the day after Christmas, 11 large, human-triggered avalanches were reported in just 12 days.
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Four skiers and two snowmobilers were involved in avalanches. One skier was buried to their waist and another sustained minor injuries. Tragically, one snowmobiler was killed, marking the second avalanche fatality in the forecast area in the past 2 years.
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On January 29th, skiers were caught in two separate avalanches in the “out of bounds” area adjacent to Baldy. A third skier-triggered slide partially buried a vehicle near the Warm Springs base area. During the same storm, large avalanches crossed Warm Springs Rd, which remained closed for nearly a week.
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Of our 227 days in the field, we used skis 87% of the time and snowmobiles 33% of the time.
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The Sawtooth & W Smoky zone was rated CONSIDERABLE or HIGH for all but 3 days between January 3rd and March 1st.
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The fourth annual Homegrown Film Festival was recorded live on January 7th. The virtual format featured local filmmakers and athletes along with a healthy dose of stunning Idaho scenery. You can view the live recording here. All proceeds benefit the Friends of the SAC.