The annual fundraiser helps raise money for the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association and Wasatch Backcountry Rescue, the organization that trains avalanche dogs. Event organizer Mike Reilly says the tickets are $35 per person and include an evening of fun this Saturday, March 7 at Marquis Park City.
“The event runs from 6 to 10 p.m.,” Reilly said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour,” Wednesday. “During the first hour, hour and a half, it's kind of more of a meet and greet with some of the avalanche rescue dogs and their handlers. We also have a silent auction going on during that time and raffle prizes. And then, starting around, like, 7:15 to 7:30 p.m., we have a bluegrass band called Pixie and the Partygrass Boys, a local favorite here. They'll be going on and doing kind of two different sets throughout that time too.”
Reilly says while it was a lackluster winter for snowfall, it also created challenging conditions given the weak layers that formed in the snowpack.
“Very tricky conditions,” he said. “So, we do have our routine avalanche mitigation things that we go through during the heavy storm cycles, but then just everyday operations is just maintaining pads, ropes safety, making sure our guests are having a good experience on the mountain, really.”
The resort has 14 trained avalanche dogs. Most are A-Level certified, the highest certification an avalanche rescue dog can achieve. The dogs range in age and all are Labradors.
“Our handlers do so much training with those dogs year-round to make sure that they're prepared to do it in case it's needed in resort boundaries, or sometimes when we need to, we will help with local search and rescues with out of boundary avalanches too.”
Reilly says organizers have secured more than $25,000 in donated goods for an opportunity drawing and silent auction. Their fundraising goal is $40,000.
Click here to purchase tickets or for more information.
