CSAC Avalanche Center Update Significant work has been going into the site since last winter. Especially in the past month or so, but prior to that as well. Each season our intent is to use this update list more often, but we get so busy that it is difficult. Once again we'll try to keep you informed more often than in the past if we can. Under "Fresh Snow" we now have an improved version of the script which will tell you which files have been changed in the last 7 days. This now runs as a script rather than being updated each night. If you check at least once a week you won't miss anything new or any changes. New Server We have moved to a new server environment. This has been a lot of work, which was why we had not done it sooner. But the benefits are great now that the work is done. Everything can operate "under one roof" as opposed to having cgi scripts, the auction, etc run off another site. Banner and avalanche network rotations are much smoother now and the annual auction is within our domain at http://www.avalanche-center.org/auction/ We also have our own majordomo and Hypernews installations, along with full control of both of these resources. New Home Page We have redesigned our home and main section pages. The total data transfer is significantly less so we hope that the site will load faster for those with modest connections. The home page makes use of a few javascripts. We would be glad to hear what you think of our redesign. We especially need to know if the javascripts cause anyone problems, and if any forms or scripts broke during the move and have not been fixed. We catch this from our logs eventually, but _please_ drop us a note if you find any problems. Financial Support This is the time of year when we begin to look hard for the support required to pay the bills. We've been seeking sponsors and a few companies have already offered their support. Life-Link will again sponsor the home page, and is our longest running continuous sponsor. Backcountry Access is sponsoring the Current Conditions and Education sections again. Forty Below will be on board again also. And a welcome to Ortovox as a new corporate sponsor. Finding support is difficult. Companies which routinely spend large sums on a variety of adventures have never shown much interest in contributing even a smaller amount to avalanche safety. We have nver gotten any significant support from the skiing, snowboarding or snowmobiling companies. Please thank those companies that do support this resource, and remember them when making your purchases. Because industry support is so limited we continue to rely on users who believe in what we do and want to help keep it happening. New Store Items We have continued to add items to the store, look for the "New" graphic by items most recently added. We have also entered into a couple agreements to help support our work. One is a "mall" run by MrGoodbucks.com, which you can get to from our store page or a banner which rotates with sponsor logos. When you go to an online merchant via a link in our "mall" we get a percentage of what you spend. Your cost is no more than it would be otherwise, but you can help support us. Consider this when you shop online. There is also a link on the store page to Shawn Emery's skiing videos. These are not sold directly through our store, but the proceeds from online sales of these are contributed to us by Shawn. His videos are "Skiing the Ring of Fire" and a "Skiing History of Utah". New Website info Most of our work has been on moving, and on rolling over everything from archived bulletins to incident reports (to courses ....) for a new season. We did spend some time on the "Other Cool Stuff" section a while ago. The index to photos on the web is up to date and is on its own page. And we have links to annual reports which are online for the US avalanche centers. (Many are still not posted online, but most centers are getting there.) Our course listings will be different this year. We don't have time to research and enter so many courses, and the AAAP is apparently going to do this now. Other sites also have regional listings. Since our listing is automated we will continue to make it available, but we will only enter courses for people who contribute. Anyone is welcome to add their own courses or course which they are aware of and this can be done automatically online. Our listing will include links to other regionally maintained listings as well. Our "Resource Use" section also had to be revamped since our log analysis programs are different on the new server. While this is primarily of internal interest it is one of the more extensive such resources made publicly available. Help Wanted Finally, we are in need of new help. Last year we hired a student on an hourly basis. This was the first time anyone was paid on this project since we began in 1994. Cassie Mellon did a good job and it was well worth the cost to have the help. We are currently looking for somebody new in Corvallis. We need to find new board members as well. Once again it is difficult to find anyone in Corvallis, so we will probably try to form a new board in Eugene where there are more people and several ski patrol and rescue groups which work together. Hopefully we will have better luck finding people there. Finally, we are working on doing a better job of using volunteer help. Over the past few years we've had people express interest in helping out. However, we have not really been in a position to coordinate these efforts or to follow up with volunteers. Many small things which would improve the site can be done with a small amount of time spent a cuple times a week. We have a volunteers page, although it needs to be updated with a few more specifics. Go to: http://www.avalanche-center.org/Organization/help-wanted/paid-staff.php We have a volunteer coordinator now too, which will hopefully help a great deal. Potential volunteers can contact Rob Williams at rob@csac.org Rob is a graduate student at OSU in the College of Forestry, and we are glad to have him helping out to coordinate people via e-mail.