Posted on 02/14/2025 5:53:54 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
For a growing number of people who ski and snowboard out of bounds and in the backcountry, the daily avalanche forecasts written by the Sierra Avalanche Center provide crucial, life-saving information about the stability of the snowpack and the risk of avalanches in Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada.
But the Sierra Avalanche Center announced this week that due to ongoing staff cuts by the federal government, it may have no choice but to cut back on the number of forecasts it issues. The center currently works with three forecasters who are employed by the U.S. Forest Service. They cover a 200-square-mile region that stretches from Sierraville to Bear Valley, including Donner Pass, Truckee and the entire Lake Tahoe Basin.
The news comes in the middle of a critical time for backcountry skiers in the Lake Tahoe region. During a storm that pushed through the area this week, the center issued a warning for high avalanche danger on Thursday. The unstable snowpack will also be an issue for the crowds descending on Tahoe during the holiday weekend.
A gap in avalanche forecasting would cause problems not only for backcountry skiers and snowboarders but also for the long term. Every day, avalanche forecasters trek out into the mountains to collect data on what’s happening beneath the surface of the snow. Missing a few days a week of that data collection will impede the center’s ability to monitor the snowpack for the risk of avalanches.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
ROTFLMAO. What about San Diego’s Sun Screen Application Service? Is that going to be endangered too? Clowns.
ROTFLMAO. What about San Diego’s Sun Screen Application Service? Is that going to be endangered too? Clowns. Must have been a slow week for Julie Brown Davis. She had to really dig to find the Tahoe Avalanche Forecasting Service is probably endangered by D.O.G.E. For it to be “endangered”, D.O.G.E. would have to find fraud and waste.
For a growing number of people who ski and snowboard out of bounds and in the backcountry, the daily avalanche forecasts written by the Sierra Avalanche Center provide crucial, life-saving information about the stability of the snowpack and the risk of avalanches in Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada. >>>> Nothing to stop them from keep issuing reports. Charge a dollar each.
Sounds like an expense for the Tahoe Basin Chamber of Commerce or Tourism.
I grew up there. It was CalTrans’ responsibility. And the ski areas had ski patrol launch explosives from an old howitzer to start an avalanche. It did not require billions of dollars and a hundred bureaucrats.
Why not make out of bounds skiing and snowboarding be out of bounds? Oh...it already is. Just let it be known that no rescuers will be sent to these areas and caveat emptor.
My friend and I went to ski across the Sierras and the first night it snowed. We found two feet of new snow in the morning. That was it, without any forecast we skied back to our car and drove home.
This is what is called a no-brainer.
Gee, how did John Muir and Jeremiah Johnson survive without this service?
Awesome. Will it show those on snow machines as well?
Those skiers and snowboarders are doing something very, very dangerous. Not only are there avalanches, one can get stuck and die in a snow well beneath a tree.
Every back country winter sports program I have participated in teaches on about how to determine avalanche danger by cutting trenches in the snow on sketchy looking slopes. They also stress to go in groups and how to spread out when crossing a potential chute. They also stress what to do to increase the amount of air you have available and how to free yourself and try to find out if you are near the surface or deeply buried. Finally, the need for everyone to have a snow shovel, avalanche probes, and an avalanche electronic beeper/locator.
I have absolutely no problem with shutting down such a service that benefits only a few high risk outdoor enthusiasts.
Let me be clear, avalanche control over major Interstate Freeway mountain passes, is a different matter. So are “snow surveys” that determine the amount of water that can be expected later in the year for agriculture and hydro electric power production.
THE KEYWORD:
“OUT OF BOUNDS”
ONLY 3-4 MONTHS OF THE YEAR.
OR TRYING TO TAKE A SELFIE WITH A HIPPO.....
Baloney. This is welfare for rich property owners; someone connected gets a freebie.
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