Season Review

• Thanks to a pre-Halloween storm “treat”, our first General Avalanche Information product was issued on October 23rd. Daily Backcountry Avalanche Forecasts started on December 13th and continued through April 10th. We issued our final General Avalanche Information product of the season on May 9th. In total, we produced 119 Backcountry Avalanche Forecasts in addition to 18 General Avalanche Information updates.

• The first half of the winter was one of the snowiest in memory. In less than a month (between December 11th and January 7th), our mountains received an estimated 100-180” of snowfall.

• The mid to late-winter drought produced above-average snow stability. We issued about twice as many days with LOW danger compared to last winter. We issued 2 AVALANCHE WARNINGS (compared to 8 the previous season) and 10 days of HIGH avalanche danger during the early winter storm cycles.

• April and early May storms dumped 3-6 feet of snow in the mountains. Skiers and riders triggered 4 large slab avalanches in 8 days. Two avalanches were triggered in Grand Prize Gulch NE of Galena Summit (observation, observation). One caught and partially buried a skier, and the other caught and carried a skier who was able to self arrest on the bed surface. Near Phyllis Lake in the White Clouds, a snowmobiler remotely triggered and outran a large avalanche (observation). Fortunately, none of these slides caused any injuries.

• Despite a snowpack that was 140-150% of average in early January, we wrapped up our forecast season with a snowpack that was just 55- 80% of normal. April’s unusually cool, wet weather helped the snowpack bump up to over 100% of average by early May.

• We are grateful to report zero avalanche accidents this season!

• Our Forecasts received over 437,000 views via the web and email subscriptions, nearly a 30% increase over the previous season.

• SAC website users are geographically diverse: people from the Wood River Valley, the Boise area, and Salt Lake City accounted for 19%, 15%, and 8% of our web traffic this season.

• The fifth annual Homegrown Film Festival was recorded live on December 4th. This year, Homegrown raised $10,000 to support the Friends of the SAC! You can view the live recording here.

• Local professional groups contributed 344 observations, and the public sent us over 250 observations – thanks! These observations are the equivalent of employing several additional avalanche forecasters, something we can’t afford.

• Of our 209 days in the field, we used skis 87% of the time and snowmobiles 20% of the time.

• SAC forecasters gave 13 interviews to local, regional, and national media outlets.

• We produced over 80 videos that were watched almost 250,000 times this year!

• The Digging Deeper series reached a live audience of 421 people, and hundreds more watched the recordings on YouTube.

• We recorded 17 Weekend Updates this year, one every Friday from December 10th through April 8th. These live recordings reviewed the week’s happenings and offered insight on what weather and avalanche conditions to expect heading into a weekend.

• Volunteers worked over 500 hours on Friends of the SAC fundraising events and over 5,000 hours in the field.

• SAC and the Friends of the SAC gave 47 educational presentations to recreational and professional audiences. Our educational programs reached nearly 3,200 individuals this season, including 400 motorized users.

• The Friends of the SAC provided a significant portion of our operating costs. The Avalanche Center would not exist in its current state without the Friends!

• The US Forest Service maintained funding levels for the SAC despite a difficult federal budget environment. The Avalanche Center is fortunate that the USFS, the Sawtooth NF, and USFS Region 4 continue to demonstrate a commitment to providing quality avalanche information and education.