Mount Baker Beacon Rally

On Jan­u­ary 6^th Moun­tain Mad­ness helped spon­sor the free avalanche edu­ca­tion event on Mt. Bak­er called the ​“Bak­er Bea­con Ral­ly”. This event that was orga­nized by REI Belling­ham and the Mt Bak­er Ski resort host­ed sev­er­al free avalanche lec­tures, com­pan­ion res­cue clin­ics, and a giant bea­con res­cue relay race. 

Moun­tain Mad­ness guide Tino Vil­lanue­va and North Amer­i­can Pro­gram Direc­tor Jaime Pol­litte helped deliv­er clin­ics as well as pro­vid­ed infor­ma­tion on the vari­ety of great back­coun­try ski­ing in the North­west. Moun­tain Mad­ness also donat­ed a free back­coun­try ski tour for two and along with the oth­er spon­sor’s con­tri­bu­tions, the raf­fle was quite a nail bitter!

This great event drew 160 par­tic­i­pants and was a reminder of the spe­cial com­mu­ni­ty of folks involved in back­coun­try ski­ing. Spe­cial thanks goes to REI and Mt Bak­er for putting on the event and pro­mot­ing back­coun­try ski education.

Michael Jack­son explains basic haz­ard analy­sis. Jill Fineis photo

North Amer­i­ca Pro­gram Direc­tor Jaime Pol­litte talks up Moun­tain Mad­ness’s Pro­grams. Jill Fineis photo

Steve Christie from Back­coun­try Access shows the impor­tance of shov­el­ing tech­niques. Jill Fineis photo

Let’s hope you nev­er need to pull the cord on the airbag. Jill Fineis photo

Remem­ber to put your bea­con to the snow dur­ing the fine search. Jill Fineis photo

Take your time and do it right! Jill Fineis photo

Future back­coun­try ski­er. Jill Fineis photo

The bea­con race is under way. Jill Fineis photo

Hur­ry! For­tu­nate­ly no lives are at stake. Jill Fineis photo

Fol­low your flux line. Jill Fineis photo

Now it is time for the prizes. Jill Fineis photo

And the win­ner is? Every­one today! Jill Fineis photo