25th Annual Avalanche Awareness Night features key information and community building

On Thursday, December 5th the Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center (BTAC) will host the annual Avalanche Awareness Night from 5:00-9:00 pm at the JH Center for the Arts.  For the past 25 years the Jackson Hole community has come together to promote safety, build community and mutual respect, and raise funds to promote safety and good decision-making in the winter backcountry. “Avy Night” is made possible by long-time sponsor Skinny Skis, along with Jackson Hole EcoTour Adventures and Fish Creek Excavation. 

Avy Night will feature a non-profit and vendor fair in the lobby prior to the program in the theater, which will begin at 6:00pm, which will feature presentations by local non-profits, first-person “Avalanche Stories,” updates from the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) and Grand Teton National Park (GTNP), and a keynote presentation by professional skier, mountain guide, and avalanche educator Jamie Weeks. Weeks was a longtime valley resident, he now now resides in Stanley, Idaho.

Don Sharaf, Zach Miller, and Emily Bodner will share their personal stories of avalanche incidents and lessons learned. WYDOT Avalanche Supervisor Don Lawless will discuss the WYDOT avalanche program on WY Highway 22. Grand Teton National Park Superintendent Chip Jenkins will present key information on winter closures in GTNP.

BTAC will review updates at the center and provide a synopsis of the 23/24 winter season, along with their annual presentation of the current state of the snowpack. The keynote presentation “Mental Health in a Mountain Town”, will complete the evening’s presentation. 

“Avy Night is your opportunity to sharpen your knowledge surrounding safe winter backcountry travel and avalanche assessment skills, gain an understanding of the early season snowpack, and be part of our local backcountry community,” say Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center Foundation Executive Director Dwayne Meadows. “This is the kick-off event of the backcountry skiing season, and a great way to support the work of the B-T Avalanche Center, which benefits all of us.”

As always, Avy Night will host a stacked raffle featuring amazing prizes from Exum Mountain Guides, Mammut, Skinny Skis, Black Diamond, Stio, JH Mountain Guides, and more! Raffle tickets will go on sale Monday, November 25 . Visit bridgertetonavalanchecenter.org for raffle tickets and the most current event information. We’ll see you at Avy Night!

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