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Beacon Bowl: Ready, set … beep

BOB BERWYN
summit daily news
Summit County, CO Colorado

SUMMIT COUNTY ” There’s no doubt the general level of avalanche awareness has grown in recent years. The sale of avalanche-related search and rescue gear, including beacons, shovels and probes, has grown at a steady clip.

But owning the right stuff is only part of the equation. Even more important is knowing how to use it, especially when the pressure is on, and your buddy’s life may depend on how fast you can hone in on a buried transceiver, pinpoint a body with a probe and then dig down through frozen chunks of debris.

A-Basin’s annual Beacon Bowl today is one of the best venues for getting some down-to-earth feedback from avy pros who use their gear on a regular basis. The event includes a high-spirited competition to see who can find a buried beacon the fastest, with prizes for winners in amateur and pro divisions.



Along with the beacon contest, avalanche forecasters from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) set up snow pit demos to show how digging down through layers of snow can help evaluate avalanche hazards by revealing weak layers and potential release points.

Registration for the Beacon Bowl is between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. in the A-Frame, and between 10 a.m. and noon at the base of the Lenawee Chair. The beacon contest finals are at 1:30 p.m. in A-Basin’s permanent beacon-testing area, also near the base of Lenawee.



Check out the calendar on A-Basin’s website at http://www.arapahoebasin.com to get more information.


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