SPART / Hyak Beacon Park
When someone is buried in an avalanche, the people already on the scene are the rescue. Companion rescue only works if you can find a transmitting beacon quickly, probe accurately, and dig efficiently—skills that fade without practice. A classroom demonstration is not enough; you need reps with your own gear before the stakes are real.
The SPART / Hyak Beacon Park is a self-directed avalanche transceiver training area at Summit East (Hyak). Anyone heading into winter backcountry terrain can stop here, start a timed exercise, and practice single or multiple burial searches in a controlled setting.
How the park works
A control box starts a timed exercise. Multiple beacons are buried at random locations throughout the park. As you find each one, it stops transmitting and the system registers the find, so you get clear feedback on how long the search took.
Bring your own beacon, probe, and shovel. Practice the full sequence you would use with partners in the field: switch to search, locate the signal, fine search, probe, and dig. The park supports both single-burial drills and more demanding multi-burial scenarios.
Why it matters
Most recreational avalanche rescues succeed or fail in the first minutes. Timed practice at a beacon park builds the muscle memory that formal courses introduce but cannot maintain by themselves. Ski patrol, search and rescue teams, and backcountry clubs also use the park for training sessions and for teaching beacon use, probing, shoveling, and simulated companion rescues.
Important limits
The park helps you practice finding transmitting beacons. It does not replace avalanche education, trip planning, or a full companion-rescue course. It does not teach when terrain is safe to travel. Use it to sharpen skills you already have—or to reinforce what you learned in a course—before you rely on them in avalanche terrain.
The park is open during the winter season when snow conditions allow.
Where to find it
The park is near the Summit East (Hyak) base area at Snoqualmie Pass. It is operated by SPART, a member unit of King County Search and Rescue, as a public outreach resource for anyone who wants to practice before heading into the backcountry.
Expanding access
Hyak is our first beacon park. A second location at The Mountaineers is planned so more travelers can get the same hands-on practice closer to other training and outing hubs.