Avalanche Forecasters Buried In Work Experts Say More Forecast Centers And Additional Funding Needed

Even though the technology exists to forecast avalanche danger and warn people before they head for the mountains, much of the west is uncovered by federal avalanche forecasting centers.

There are just six federal forecast centers in the United States. The prospects for expansion are slim, even as a boom in winter sports puts more people in harm’s way each year on cross-country skis, snowshoes and snowmobiles.

An average of about seven people were killed by U.S. avalanches from 1985 to 1990, but the numbers have been climbing since, according to the Colorado Avalanche Forecasting Center in Denver.

Thirty people were killed in avalanches in the winter of 1995-96, 22 the next winter and 26 last winter. Backcountry skiers, snowmobilers and climbers accounted for the most deaths.

Avalanches have killed at least nine people so far this winter.

“It’s absurd that when you’ve got so many people using the backcountry that funding for forecasting is so thin,” said Peter Metcalf, president of Black Diamond Equipment Ltd., a Salt Lake City-based manufacturer of mountain gear.

The Salt Lake area has a forecasting center, and there are similar offices in Denver; Seattle; Ketchum, Idaho; Jackson Hole, Wyo.; and Bozeman, Mont.

Forecasters say the existing centers are understaffed and underfunded, and huge areas of prime recreational country across the West aren’t covered at all.

For example, the west side of Yellowstone National Park gets enough snowmobile traffic to warrant a forecast center, said Doug Abromeit, a Forest Service employee at the Ketchum center who also coordinates government funding for avalanche forecasting. There are no federal centers in Alaska, Oregon, Nevada and California.

Technology has played a roll in the surge into the winter backcountry. Advances in snowshoe design are making avalanche country accessible to adventurers with little or no outdoor experience. Increasingly powerful snowmobiles are carrying people deeper into the wilderness.

Sales of backcountry equipment jumped 361 percent last year from the winter before, according to SnowSports Industries America.

In addition, condos and townhouses are sprouting on steep, snow-laden slopes.

At the avalanche centers, forecasters study weather reports, analyze snowfall data and ski into the backcountry to dig pits in the snow to gauge its stability. They rate avalanche danger on a five-step scale from “low” to “extreme,” and get the information out through local media, recorded telephone hot lines, faxes and the Internet.

Last winter the Utah center had 125,000 calls to its recorded avalanche advisory hot line and 215,000 Internet hits and e-mail inquiries. The Bozeman center went from putting out 4,000 advisories in the 1990-91 season to more than 50,000 last winter.

Much of the recreational territory in the West is on Forest Service land. Forecasters say the agency funded avalanche research and ran forecasting centers across the region until the early 1980s. But the service pulled out most of its funding around the middle of the decade, the forecasters said.

The Forest Service was unable to provide information on how much it budgeted for avalanche forecasting, either this year or in earlier years, said Denny Bschor, director of recreation for the service in Washington.

An Associated Press tally of information provided by the existing centers found the Forest Service provided less than half the $832,000 spent on forecasting in the winter of 1997-98. The main components: $406,000 from state and local governments, $188,000 from the Forest Service, $44,000 from the ski industry and $139,000 in donations.

Bschor said it was the Forest Service policy to shift funding responsibility to other “partners” - states, local governments and private industry.

In Washington, highway crews rely on avalanche forecasting for regulating traffic over Snoqualmie and Stevens passes. Last year, however, the state Transportation Department cut its contribution to the Northwest Avalanche Center in Seattle from $80,000 to $40,000.

To make up for the hole in the center’s $211,000 annual budget, legislators siphoned $20,000 from the state’s Sno-Park fund, which is used to maintain about 50 parking areas used for groomed winter trail systems that are designed to keep people away from major avalanche areas.

There’s way more snow than money in the nation’s avalanche slopes.

Throughout the West, the 30 forecasters nationwide - most of them part-time or seasonal hires - spend much of their time scrambling for funding. They go to state and county governments, highway departments worried about drivers on vulnerable mountain roads and ski manufacturers.

Typical is the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center in Montana. A volunteer support group has put on fund-raisers including a slide show and a raffle.

“We’ve been known to call this `avalanche center by bake sale,”’ said director Karl Birkeland.

Forecasters want the government to fund forecasting centers and to finance research to supplement the studies they now rely on from Europe, Japan and Canada. They also want the government to issue standard guidelines on interpreting data and issuing warnings.

Few believe the Forest Service will boost spending on avalanche safety any time soon.

“When it comes to natural disasters,” said Knox Williams, director of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center in Denver, “it takes something big to happen before federal funding comes in, like an avalanche taking out a bus full of nuns.”

1. IN THE REGION The Idaho Panhandle National Forests updates a snow conditions forecast every Friday. Backcountry travelers should make a routine of checking the report before going out on weekends. Call (208) 765-7323. The report also is available on the Internet at www.fs.fed.us/outernet/ipnf/avalanche.html/

2. AT A GLANCE TRAVEL SAFELY Advice from the experts on traveling safely in avalanche territory: Carry an avalanche transceiver that will transmit your location if you’re trapped. The transceiver can also be set to receive signals from a trapped skier. Learn how to use the transceiver - it takes practice. Carry a shovel and collapsible poles to probe the snow for victims in case you need to help with a rescue. Be alert following periods of steady snowfall - that’s when most avalanches occur. Slopes with angles of 25 to 50 degrees are most likely to slide. Cornices, or overhanging shelves of snow, can build up along ridges and can fall, triggering avalanches. When traveling along ridges, avoid the edges. Don’t ski, snowmobile or snowboard alone. When traveling through potentially unstable terrain, spread out and cross slopes one at a time, keeping a close watch for sliding or settling of the snow. Most avalanches start above the timberline, on slopes opposite the prevailing wind. Heavily forested slopes are less likely to slide. However, avalanches can start above these slopes and travel through moderately dense forests. Watch for evidence of recent avalanches and look for snow that collapses or makes hollow sounds. Check with local mountain guides, forecasters and outdoor travelers for conditions and hazards. Only one in three avalanche victims buried without a beacon survives. But if you’re caught in an avalanche, try to escape by grabbing a tree or rock. If you fall, get rid of your skis, poles and pack and “swim” on the slide to stay toward the surface. When the avalanche stops, try to stay near the surface and make an air pocket.

Spokesman-Review outdoors editor Rich Landers contributed to this story.