[Rob]

Many other ski areas that I have visited offer some opportunities for beacon training by burying a beacon somewhere on the hill (usually in a tupperware container); this provides a nice opportunity for one aspect of Avi training; usually I simply ask the ski patrol for the general area where the beacon is buried; I am wondering if the SFSA patrol has considered or provides such an opportunity or would be interested? Is this something that others have found useful in their beacon training?

[Bob]

In the time I've worked there, SFSA patrol hasn't officially considered a beacon site. I don't think there has been much in the way of request or interest from the public on this one, but I'd be glad to take it up if there were some sort of reasonable level of interest. The patrol practices with beacons, but it wouldn't make much sense to bury one for the public if only one or two people wanted it.

That said, I was talking with a Backcountry Access rep a while back and a super-duper "official" beacon training setup with multiple locations and on-off switches runs in the neighborhood of $5000. I was thinking that when I finally get the non-profit status of nnmae.org squared away I might make funding and placing one of those a priority project.

So, what's the interest level?

[Rob]

I have used the BCA beacon training at several places; while rather useful, I have found that where patrol moves the beacon around the hill presents a less expensive and rather interesting challenge if you only know the general vicinity of the buried beacon;

my question also begs the issue of how much time folks spend training with their beacons; I saw a report a year or so ago that indicated that the average person spends less than 1-2 hours per year training with their beacon; finding several types of opportunities to train helps me feel more confident with my skills in the event that I would actually need to put them to the test;

[Bob]