ATTENTION | ORTOVOX 3+ USERS
Backcountry Magazine | Press Release: ORTOVOX ISSUES RECALL OF 3+ AVALANCHE TRANSCEIVERS RUNNING SOFTWARE VERSION 2.1
Missoula Avalanche | Friends Group
Each US Avalanche Center is supported by an affiliated nonprofit entity, or friends group. In essence, the center provides the structure and technical know-how and the non-profit entity engages in fundraising and outreach. Nationwide, more than 50% of avalanche center operational costs are covered by community donations and other...
Missoula Gives Event | Today!
đź—“ | Today! Event: Missoula Gives Date: May 4th Time: Now – 10 PM MST Location: Join us from anywhere and everywhere through our online giving platform:  WCMAF | Missoula Gives Missoula Gives provides a great opportunity to give where you live and support the avalanche center services you rely on. Giving goal...
Help Support Your Avalanche Center | Public Observations
Education | Fundraising | General | Snowpack | Weather
Avalanche forecasters play a critical role in protecting the public and raising avalanche awareness by communicating the potential for avalanches to cause harm or injury to backcountry travelers. West Central Montana Avalanche Center (WCMAC) forecasters work to keep you informed of the danger avalanches pose by gathering as much information as possible from...
Avalanche Terrain | Generating Travel Plans
Generating backcountry travel plans without avalanche center forecast information requires knowledge of weather events. Review snotel data for current snow totals and weather station data for temperatures, wind trends, and speeds. With these tools, you can get an idea of the avalanche problems you could encounter on your trip and choose appropriate terrain...
Join us for the Beers With Your Avalanche Forecaster Finale!
Education | Fundraising | Snowpack | Weather
This Thursday evening, February 22nd from 6-8 pm, Big Sky Brewing will be hosting our Beers With Your Avalanche Forecaster finale! In an ongoing effort to help us make the Montana backcountry a safer place, Big Sky Brewing is donating event proceeds to the West Central Montana Avalanche Foundation....
UPCOMING: AVALANCHE LEVEL 1 COURSE | MECHANIZED SNOWMACHINES
Grab your riding buddies and get trained! Spots still available for the upcoming Mechanized Snowmachine | Avalanche Level 1 Course Dates: 2.23.18 – 2.25.18 Register Now & Secure Your Spot! Details & Registration | LinkÂ
Upcoming: SNOWMOBILE RESCUE AND SKILLS COURSE WITH MIKE DUFFY
The course is taught from a mechanized snowmachine perspective by certified avalanche instructors with 20+ years of mountain riding experience and excellent avalanche education skills. The course is designed for recreational riders, guides, and search and rescue teams. Participants will focus on how to avoid being caught in avalanche situations...
What you don’t know can kill you
Many avalanche victims don’t know they are in avalanche danger and are unprepared to deal with an avalanche. This doesn’t have to happen – the danger signs are usually obvious to those who know what to look for. Just as those in Hawaii learn about the dangers of rip...
Upcoming: Mechanized Mountain Rider avalanche education
We are excited to offer new avalanche education offerings developed specifically for snowmobilers and mechanized mountain riders. These courses are taught from a mechanized perspective by certified avalanche instructors with 20+ years of mountain riding experience and excellent avalanche education skills. These courses are designed for recreational riders, guides, and...
Weather Summary 1/14/18
The week started out simply enough, a scattered inch here and there before dramatically shifting mid-week. Wednesday brought a foot of snow to the Seeley Lake area and inch and a half of water. The northern half of the advisory area got the most snow and water from the...
Weather Summary 1/7/18
This weeks weather is easier to summarized than the last two weeks. There were no storms bringing feet of snow, just the occasional inch or two here and there. It may come as a surprise considering the lack of any major weather events but this week was marked by...
Upcoming – Avalanche Level 1 Refresher Course
Has it been a while since you took your Level 1 Avalanche Course? The Level 1 Refresher Course is a great opportunity for refining your skills and catching up on best practices for decision making in avalanche terrain. Check out the upcoming Level 1 Refresher Course while spots are...
Weather Summary 12/31/17
The second week of advisories are in the books and boy was it a doozie. The week started cold and relatively calm. Over the Christmas Holiday snow slowly started to accumulate as 3-6 inches of snow accumulated monday and again on Tuesday. Snows tapered slightly Wednesday before picking up...
Join us this week for Beers With Your Forecaster!
Education | Fundraising | General | Mechanized | Snowpack | Weather
It’s winter in western Montana and we’re headed into the backcountry. In an effort to make Montana’s winter playground a safer place, Big Sky Brewing is hosting Beers With Your Forecaster. This event is a great opportunity to gain insight on current snow conditions and learn about what goes into generating...
Advisories, Warnings, and Weather Updates
The first week of advisories are in the books and there was a ton of information presented in a variety of forms. If you felt overwhelmed last week rest assured you are not alone. We would like to take this time to explain the different methods that we use...
The Western Montana Winter Fair
As part of its mission to serve the community year-round, the Missoula County Fairgrounds and Glacier Ice Rink will host the first annual Western Montana Winter Fair, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday afternoons from 1 to 6 pm on December 16 and 17, 2017. This new event...
The Mountain Weather Lecture Series
In conjunction with UM Campus Recreation, the West Central Montana Avalanche Foundation is hosting a free two-part Mountain Weather lecture series. Featuring guest speaker, LeeAnn Allegretto, NOAA Meteorologist and Avalanche Program Leader from the National Weather Service. Both sections are open to the public and will be held in the...
Winter Avalanche Education Events
Education | General | Mechanized | Snowpack | Weather
Courses are filling fast! Check out Registration/Details
AVALANCHE AWARENESS LECTURE – TONIGHT 6 PM @ UM – FREE
AVALANCHE AWARENESS LECTURE – Tonight! Time: 6pm Location: North Underground Lecture Hall 101, UM Campus Cost: FREE Join Josh Tapp, Avalanche Education Coordinator from the West Central Montana Avalanche Center for an introduction to avalanche awareness and safety. The presentation will include video, slides, discussion and Q&A session. Topics covered will...
Great Article on How to Interpret ECT’s
Here is a great article on the Black Diamond Site that talks about the uses of snow pack tests to see how sensitive a persistent weak layer is. Here is the link We are having a free Avalanche Awareness Class Tonight 600 pm at North Underground Urey Lecture Hall...
Changes in Avalanche Education
The American Avalanche Association is currently updating the standards of education in the U.S. The new changes are going into effect for the 17/18 season. Some of the key changes are the division of professional and recreational tracks for level 1 and level 2 classes. If you are a...
Montana Mechanized Avalanche Awareness and Education Event
The West Central Montana Avalanche Foundation would like to reiterate its sincere thanks to Gull Boats & RV for their continued support of avalanche safety, awareness and education. With over 400 in attendance, Mike Duffy delivered an outstanding snowmobile avalanche awareness and skills introduction. We are excited to have Mike back...
Pray for Snow 2017
Come Down to Caras Park October 6th from 5:30 to 10:30 to help us refill the kitty so we can continue to provide avalanche forecasts and education for West Central Montana. We’ll have; a Raffle -Fire- Beer from Big Sky Brewing- Kids Bounce House- Music From Shakewell -& Good...
Two Skiers Caught In An Avalanche Near Lincoln Montana Outside Of Our Advisory Area
Yesterday, two skiers were caught in an avalanche near Stonewall Mountain by Lincoln, Montana outside of our advisory area. One skier was partially buried while the other was caught in the trees. Lewis and Clark SAR were called and assisted with the rescue. We will update with more information...
Wind Slabs
We have had two public observations of wind slabs in the Bitterroot. Â Take a look before you head out. Remember identify wind slabs and avoid them. Â These slabs are on many different aspects, and some slopes are cross-loaded due to the changes in wind direction over the last couple...
Mountain Weather Lectures
In conjunction with U of M Campus Recreation we will be hosting a free Mountain Weather Class.  Featuring guest speaker, LeeAnne Allegretto, Meteorologist and Avalanche Program Leader from The National Weather Service. The class will be in the North Urey Underground Lecture Hall from 600pm -800pm Part 1 on January 12...
Weather Update
Winter Weather Update: Large snow totals predicted. Â As this system enters our area we will update the advisory as needed.
2016-2017 News Release
The West Central Montana Avalanche Center (WCMAC) has announced the following staff changes for the upcoming 2016-2017 winter avalanche season. Travis Craft, has assumed leadership responsibilities for the center. Steve Karkanen, director of the center since 2006, retired at the end of the 2015-2016 season. Karkanen, an avalanche specialist...
2016 Pray For Snow Party – 10th Annual!
The 10th Annual Pray for Snow Party will be taking place at Caras Park on Friday, October 21st from 5:30-10:30. Come listen to the sweet sounds of Caroline Keys and the Lane Splitters and then the Come listen to the sweet sounds of Caroline Keys and the Lane Splitters and...
RIMO Slide Show March 24th
Skip Horner has guided worldwide adventures for more than 40 years, including scaling the highest mountain on every continent, rafting over a dozen wild rivers on five continents,and skiing the highest peaks in the Arctic and the Antarctic. The Rimo 1 expedition was a multi-national expedition into India’s remote...
What is Avanet?
Avanet is a new online platform that allows people to record and share mountain safety observations in real time. Currently you can sign up for free as a recreational user and have access to all of the mapping, route planning and observation tools that it offers. You can sign...
Recent Avalanches
In the past week, 4 individuals have died in avalanches in CO, WY, UT and here in MT bringing the season total to 10 as of January 23. The accident in SW MT Tuesday hits close to home as it involved an avalanche professional. Darren Johnson, a professional ski...
Level 1 Refresher Update
Hey folks, We are in the process of expanding our education program! We realize that there are a lot of well educated people out in the backcountry who are looking for a course to update their avalanche skills. We are super excited to be able to offer a Level 1 Refresher course...
Montana Avalanche Fatality
We are sad to report that the first Montana avalanche death of the 2015/16 season occurred over the weekend in Cooke City, MT. See Video The Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center is investigating the incident and a full report will be archived in the Colorado Avalanche Information Center’s web data-base....
AAI Level 2 in Missoula Jan. 2-5, 2016
The American Avalanche Institute is teaming up with missoulaavalanche and the University of Montana Outdoor Program to offer a Level 2 Avalanche class in Missoula. Â A level 2 course is designed for students with level 1 avalanche skills. Participants will go deeper into the science of snow metamorphism, and...
2015 Pray For Snow Party
Whoop! It’s that time of year again! Bring your snow buddies to pray to the snow gods down at Caras Park from 5-10:30pm on Friday October 2nd and help support the West Central Montana Avalanche Foundation. Music by local favorites The Skurfs and the funky sounds of Shakewell. We’ll...
West Central MT Avalanche Center Education 2015 Season
The mission of the West Central Montana Avalanche Center and its friends group, missoulaavalanche, is to provide avalanche information for west central Montana. That is accomplished by providing avalanche advisories and avalanche education programs. It is the beginning of March and educators with the Center have racked up some...
