Are You Beeping?
An avalanche beacon only helps if it is on and transmitting. Experienced backcountry travelers still forget—leaving a beacon off, stuck in search mode, or in the car. The trailhead is the last useful reminder before someone walks into avalanche terrain.
Are You Beeping? places avalanche-awareness signs and automatic transceiver checkers at popular winter trailheads and ski-area backcountry gates. The signs educate travelers about avalanche risk, where to get a forecast, and the gear that belongs on every trip. The checker answers a simpler question as you walk past: is your beacon beeping?
How the signs work
Pass the station one at a time. Within about ten feet, the checker listens for an avalanche transceiver signal and shows a green O if a beacon is transmitting, or a red X if it is not. That quick go/no-go cue catches the common failure modes—beacon off, left behind, or still in search after a practice check—before the day gets harder to fix.
The signs reinforce the same basics every time: wear a beacon, turn it on, check the forecast, and carry the rest of your essential rescue gear.
Important limits
The checker confirms that a transceiver is present and transmitting. It does not verify that the beacon is transmitting within specification, that search mode works, or that everyone’s units will find each other. It is an awareness tool, not a substitute for a full partner beacon check.
Always perform a manual group check so every transceiver works properly together and everyone knows how to use theirs.
Where you’ll find them
You’ll see Are You Beeping? stations at common winter recreation entrances around the Cascades—including the Snoqualmie Pass and Alpental corridor—where people leave the road or the resort for avalanche terrain. SPART funds and sponsors local deployments in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, the Northwest Avalanche Center (NWAC), the Cascade Backcountry Ski Patrol, and ski-area partners.
How the program developed
Scott Waller of SPART and the Cascade Backcountry Ski Patrol launched Are You Beeping? after a stretch of heightened media attention around Pacific Northwest avalanche accidents. Working with King County Search and Rescue, NWAC, the U.S. Forest Service, the Washington State Department of Transportation, the Summit at Snoqualmie, Backcountry Access (BCA), and others, the team piloted trailhead awareness signs and solar-powered beacon checkers that upcycle retired BCA Tracker hardware. The program is now managed and maintained by SPART member Erik Olson.
Research
The early deployments and sensor-network expansions were documented at the International Snow Science Workshop:
- New Public Avalanche Awareness Opportunities — Are You Beeping? (ISSW 2012, Waller, Hill, and Willy)
- Are You Beeping? Sensor Networks in the Backcountry (ISSW 2014, Waller)