Avalanche Beacon Training Park

Chaffee County has experienced a steady increase in winter recreation, including skiing, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, and mountaineering. With this increased usage comes heightened avalanche risk, particularly for individuals who lack sufficient avalanche rescue skills. Successful avalanche rescue depends on rapid, practiced use of transceivers, probes, and shovels. However, opportunities for hands-on practice in realistic environments are limited.

Currently, there is no dedicated avalanche beacon park in the County except for at the Monarch Ski Area (~1 hour away). Without regular, accessible practice opportunities, both the public and CCSAR-N volunteers face reduced preparedness during time-critical avalanche events. Establishing a beacon park will directly address this gap by providing a safe, controlled, and replicable environment for avalanche rescue training.

CCSAR-N proposes the creation of a seasonal Avalanche Beacon Training Park along the Cottonwood Pass Road, accessible to the public and used regularly by CCSAR-N teams for advanced training. The system will include buried transmitters, a master control unit, and programmable rescue scenarios that replicate real avalanche burial patterns. Users will be able to practice transceiver searches, signal interpretation, pinpointing, probing techniques, and timed rescue drills.

This project will enhance community safety by:

• Providing free public access to a self-guided training facility.
• Strengthening the skills of CCSAR-N volunteers through realistic, scenario-based practice.
• Supporting local avalanche-safety education programs and community outreach events.
• Reducing response times and increasing survival likelihood for avalanche victims by improving companion-rescue proficiency.

Our goal is to raise $10,000 to:

• Purchase beacon park hardware, transmitters, and control system units.
• Prepare and develop a suitable site accessible to both the public and the CCSAR-N team.
• Install educational signage and instructions for independent practice.
• Provide ongoing maintenance and operational oversight to ensure reliability.
• Integrate the beacon park into CCSAR-N’s annual training curriculum and public education programs.