Leah Hogsten | Tribune file photo UDOT avalanche forecasters Matt McKee, left, and Greg Dollhausen prepare the Howitzer for firing into the Stairs Gulch area of Big Cottonwood last November.

Do you snowshoe or ski in the backcountry? Would you like to live through it?

Considering the ominous pattern of recent weather in the canyons, you might want to increase your survival chances by taking an “Avalanche Awareness: Know Before You Go.”

The multimedia talk on Tuesday, Dec. 13, at the Sandy REI, 230 W. 10600 South, includes avalanche basics, a PowerPoint presentation on how to stay alive in avalanche terrain and the staff of the Utah Avalanche Center (utahavalanchecenter.org) whose brains you can pick. (If you’re still awake after the PowerPoint.)

For more information or to register, visit www.rei.com/sandy or call 801-486-2100.