The first week in December marks Avalanche Awareness Week and entities — both local and statewide — are making sure the public is alert as they make their way into the mountains.

Liam McDonald, awareness manager with the Utah Avalanche Center, told the Standard-Examiner that Avalanche Awareness Week has fairly recent roots.

“Back in 2019, the Utah State Legislature passed a bill designating the first full week of December as Avalanche Awareness Week in the state of Utah,” he said. “We get support from the state and the state recognizes the importance of avalanche safety for Utahans because so many of us are recreating in these gorgeous mountains.”

Closer to home, a non-profit group known as Ogden Avalanche also aims to boost the public’s awareness of the dangers of avalanches.

Kory Davis, program director for Ogden Avalanche, told the Standard-Examiner Monday said the group centers around informing the public about the risks avalanches pose and how to stay safe and alert.

“We started in 2016 and provide free and low-cost avalanche education to folks in the Ogden area,” he said, noting that they have events across Northern Utah in Weber, Davis, Box Elder and Morgan counties. “We do ‘Know Before You Go’ classes just like the Utah Avalanche Center does as well as some other community outreach things.”

He said the volunteer organization also does an annual speaker series in January, weekly updates from professionals on the group’s website and links to updated observations in the area’s mountains.

“Since the Utah Avalanche Center doesn’t have a designated forecaster for the Ogden mountains, that’s kind of our way of providing a little bit more information there,’ he said.

This week also includes Ogden Avalanche’s annual fundraiser, Backcountry Bash. This year’s Backcountry Bash is set for Thursday from 6-10 p.m. at The Monarch and will include tickets for pizza, beer and a silent auction to help raise money for the group and its educational efforts. Tickets can be purchased in advance or at the door.

When the Standard-Examiner spoke with McDonald last week, snow was still relatively sparse along the Wasatch Front and relegated largely to the highest elevations, making it somewhat difficult to get a handle on what the avalanche potential could be this winter season.

“It’s hard to say and predict what the season is going to look like,” he said. “It has been a slow start in terms of snow. In the central Wasatch, we’ve got snow at high elevations. It may seem like it’s pretty dry and there’s not a ton of danger, but once we get new snow on that old snow up high, that’s when dangerous conditions exist.”

However, he said there are some areas that have seen avalanche activity more often historically in the Ogden area.

“Ben Lomond is a pretty big mountain and there’s a lot of really big terrain out there,” he said. “There have definitely been accidents in the past around Ben Lomond. Also, some of the gates out of Snowbasin can be very tricky to navigate and very complex terrain to navigate if you don’t have avalanche training or education.”

In the meantime, a press release from the Utah Avalanche Center notes several upcoming awareness events, including:

• December 2nd – Pray For Snow, The Cache, Logan
• December 3rd – The Mindset Shift, Presented by Blue Ice, SLC
• December 4th – Community Avalanche Rescue Practice, Pinebrook, Park City
• December 6th – Utah Snow and Avalanche Workshop (USAW), Salt Lake City
• December 13th – Winter Kick-Off, Moab Arts and Recreation Center (The MARC), Moab

For more information on the Utah Avalanche Center and its events, visit https://utahavalanchecenter.org/.

For more information on Ogden Avalanche’s events, updates on mountain conditions and to buy tickets for the Backcountry Bash, visit ogdenavalanche.org.