JACKSON, Wyo. — The Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center (BTAC) has released its last avalanche information summary for the winter 2024/2025 season now that spring weather has arrived.
Daily summaries of snow and water data will continue until May 31, and BTAC’s Annual Report is on track for a late-June release. The team will continue to post observations periodically this spring.
Frank Carus, director of BTAC, spoke to Buckrail on Wednesday morning, and encouraged backcountry users to submit observations.
“We’d love to see more observations from people in the field even if they don’t see avalanches,” Carus said. “We want to know what snow surfaces and depths are like.”
New this winter was a Google phone line for submitting observations via text and voicemail, as well as participation in the Avy phone app. To share an observation, folks can submit a form on the BTAC website or on the Avy App (Apple, Android), email info@btavy.org or text/call (307) 264-3050.
Reflecting on the winter season, Carus noted that persistent weak layers were problematic but “generally only spawned pretty small avalanches” compared to last year.
“Despite the smaller avalanches, people definitely got caught, carried and buried,” Carus said. He recalled the skier fatality on Togwotee Pass as being particularly tragic, saying the news “touched a lot of people here. That was impactful and memorable.”
Carus added that he observed instances of larger groups getting impacted by avalanches all at once, incidents that serve as a good reminder of the “basics of one-at-a-time travel.” He pointed to the group of seven skiers that were caught and carried in the Tetons in February, and a group of four who survived being buried in the Snake River Range in December.
“In a lot of these incidents, people don’t report them,” Carus said. “There’s still some embarrassment, or a level of awareness people don’t have that passing along that information is helpful.”
Carus and his team will spend the summer months performing other “priority work in wildfire, recreation and timber,” he said. As some state-level grants remain in jeopardy, Carus said he’s not sure what BTAC’s capacity will look like next winter. He said the team will “continue to work with valued partners and the private sector to keep the avalanche
center operating.”
