Invisible ART has been installed in the park on Sun Valley Road just east of Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church. ART is an Automated Rescue Trainer designed to test the skills of winter travelers learning to search for avalanche victims.
Although the ART brain, a control box, is mounted on a post, powered by a solar panel and visible from the road, the key to the installation lies beneath the snow.
Several 24-inch square strike plates in the field simulate buried avalanche victims. The system invented by Manuel Genswein of Switzerland is one of a handful of search training systems in the West designed to help winter travelers improve their beacon search skills. After a customs delay the Sun Valley system is now fully operational and open to the public.
"Every time I drove past it in the last couple of days people have been using it and I drive by three or four times a day," said Sun Valley Fire Chief Cam Daggett, who dropped by Thursday morning for an ART orientation with the Sawtooth National Forest Avalanche Center. The party of search and rescue regulars gives their input to help improve educational and rescue services in the valley.
Backwoods Mountain Sports' beacon clinics on Thursdays will be held in the field for the next month before ART is moved to the north end of the Baker Creek parking lot for the rest of the winter.
The system was made available to the community through a grant from the Wattis Dumke Foundation and is one of the many tools the Avalanche Center will showcase during Avalanche Awareness Week that begins Jan. 30 and runs through Feb. 5.
SNFAC Director Janet Kellam said ART is a good place to start for people seeking to be prepared when things do go wrong in the backcountry.
Chris Lundy and Matt Lutz, forecasters with the Avalanche Center gave a demonstration of the system, which has easy, medium and expert options.
"With the easy search one beacon gives a signal," Lundy said, reviewing the instructions on the control box, which are listed in four languages. At the expert level the control box does not tell the searcher how many beacons need to be found, but at the end of a session searchers can check the brain to see how long it took them to hit each strike plate with a probe pole.
No digging is required for the exercise.
Giving ART a try, I stumbled during the fine search, but Lutz came to my rescue and offered advice on how better to orient my beacon when closing in on a victim. There is no shame in failure at the ART park. If a searcher becomes completely flummoxed by flux lines, beeping signals and flashing lights, the beginner can tuck tail and seek professional help from the numerous avalanche instructors in the valley. Practice and encouragement to get informed through professional training and the SNFAC Web site, www.sawtoothavalanche.com, is the theme of the week.
ART shuts itself down and is kicked into gear with the simple push of a button. The sound of a probe striking the plate signals that a victim has been found and a siren and flashing light go off at the control center.
People looking to practice searching need only bring a beacon, probe pole, snow boots and a pooper-scooper if the family pet comes for support. As the snow gets deeper, snowshoes are helpful too.
Powered by lithium batteries, the strike plates under the snow are maintained by the avalanche forecasters and their locations are changed regularly to keep the training fresh.
Avalanche Awareness Programs
As part of Avalanche Awareness Week 2006 (Jan 30 through Feb 5) The Sawtooth National Forest Avalanche Center presents an Overview of Avalanche Basics:
· Hailey CSI Community Campus room 301 Tuesday, Jan 31 7-8 p.m.
· Ketchum Community Library Thursday, Feb 2 7-8 p.m.
More information and daily avalanche advisories can be found on-line at www.sawtoothavalanche.com. The direct advisory address is http://www.avalanche.org/~svavctr/adv_current.php.
