Avalanche Rescue Tips and Tools

What do you do when things go wrong?

Join Tahoe Mountain Sports at Craft Reno on Wednesday, January 8th to learn the ins and outs of avalanche rescue. The night will begin with a discussion on the essential avalanche safety tools - a beacon, shovel, and probe. We’ll cover how beacons work, best practices when using a shovel and probe, and the role of an airbag in your safety quiver. Then, Steve Reynaud, Sierra Avalanche Center forecaster and owner of Tahoe Mountain School, will lead you through how a rescue unfolds. From there representatives from Black Diamond, Mammut, Scott, Backcountry Access, and Ortovox will give a rundown on the different types of airbag packs and their various features.

At the end of the night, you’ll break up into small groups and have a chance to try out demo beacons and practice your skills in a search scenario. There will also be Garmin and Caltopo stations for you to learn about their mapping, navigation, and safety tools. If you have an airbag, bring it to this event! We'll end the night with a group airbag deployment followed by free canister refills and free software upgrades.

Bring cash for the huge raffle benefiting the Tahoe Backcountry Alliance, the voice for the human-powered winter backcountry community in the Lake Tahoe area, advocating for and informing our community about critical issues affecting winter backcountry recreation in Tahoe. Raffle prizes include swag from Ortovox, Backcountry Access, Mammut, Black Diamond, Flylow Gear, Dynafit, Weston, and Julbo.

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Learn more about the FREE Avalanche Education Series from Tahoe Mountain Sports