Utah Avalanche Center ‘Know Before You Go’ Educational Program
As outdoor winter recreation continues to blossom, more and more people are in need of basic avalanche education. We plan to continue offering ‘Know Before You Go’ on a statewide level to schools, scout and church groups and hope to expand our outreach to even more groups next season. The amazing success of the program speaks for itself, and we know we’re saving lives.
Project Summary
A critical need exists for basic avalanche education for junior high through college age students in Utah. Just like students in Hawaii learn about the dangers of rip tides and shore breaks at an early age, students in Utah need to learn about avalanches. The rising numbers of young avalanche victims have demonstrated an obvious need for basic avalanche education. We hope that the Know Before You Go avalanche education program will become a regular part of the curriculum in Utah schools from junior high through college age students.
This free program is designed as a 50-minute program in three parts:
- A 15-minute, narrated video showing avalanches, people triggering avalanches and the destructive power of avalanches.
- A local avalanche professional will tell their story about close calls or accidents they have had as they learned about avalanches.
- A 15 -minute PowerPoint presentation about the basics of how to recognize avalanche terrain, recognize obvious signs of instability, safe travel practices, the basics of avalanche rescue equipment and self-rescue procedures, and where to obtain information about current avalanche conditions.
