Help

Plan a trip before you set out. Every trailhead and hut is listed under its zone, with the zone's community channel and privacy code.

Tap a name to open its page: the channel, a map of the zone, today's avalanche danger and nearby snow readings.

Tap Nearest trailhead and your phone finds the closest one within 5 miles and opens its page. Farther than that, the page says so.

Your position stays on your phone. It is never sent.

A trailhead or hut outside every zone is listed under Outside every zone. Use the channel and privacy code shown there.

Today and Tomorrow at the top switch the avalanche forecast between the two days. The page opens on Tomorrow. The readings are what stations measured, the same on both days.

The trailhead's zone, its community channel and privacy code, and whether it has plowed winter parking. On the map, this trailhead is the yellow dot and the others in the zone are grey.

If you used Nearest trailhead in the last half hour, the page also shows how far you are from here.

The danger comes from the Sierra Avalanche Center's forecast for this zone, by elevation where the forecast gives it, with the forecast's bottom line. The page says when it was issued and when it expires.

For tomorrow, the danger is the forecast's own outlook, with today's beside it. When the forecast gives none, the page says so.

An expired forecast shows no ratings. Read the full forecast before you go.

Snow depth and air temperature come from the nearest SNOTEL station (NRCS). The page names the station, its elevation and how far away it is, and when it was read.

When the station has sent nothing for three hours, the page says "No recent reading" and gives the time of the last one.

Nearby lists the other sign locations within 5 miles, with their channel and distance.

Open in opens this trailhead in CalTopo, Gaia or Trailforks, or gives driving directions in Google Maps.

There is no password. Type your email and tap Email me a link.

Open the email on the phone you want signed in and tap the link. Then tap Sign in on the page it opens. Nothing changes until you tap that button.

Using the site from your Home Screen? The email also carries a six-digit code. Tap "Have a code? Enter it here" and type the six digits.

Once you're signed in, that phone stays signed in until June 1. The link and the code work for one week, and each link signs in once.

To sign out, tap Sign out of this phone on your page.

Look in your spam folder first. Still nothing? Ask for a new link.

A link that has expired or been used shows a button to email you a new one.

No signal? Sign in at home or at the sign depot, then add this site to your Home Screen.

Your page shows your check-ins this season, with the place and time of each, and the roles you hold. Only you see it.

Your pages lists every page your roles open, each with a line on what it's for. Anyone approved sees Sign tickets; stewards also see Trail Steward Report; patrollers also see Patrol report; installers also see Install a sign; admins see every page, the admin pages too.

Tap Sign out of this phone when you're done on a phone you share. You can sign in again any time with a new link.

Stewards can ask for 10 or 20 stickers to hand out where they ski and at events. Each request comes with one talking points card.

Tap Ask for stickers on your page, pick how many, check your mailing address and tap Ask for these. An admin posts them to you.

Your page shows your request: asked until it's posted, then the day it was posted. You can have one request open at a time.

We post stickers to the mailing address you give. It's kept for your next request, so you only type it once.

Only you and the admins who post stickers see it. It's never on a public page.

Every event coming up, soonest first, with when and where. Times are Pacific. A cancelled event stays on the list, struck through.

When an event has a limit, the list says how many places are left, or Full. Tap an event for its page: what it is, who runs it, what to bring and how to take a place.

Subscribe once and your calendar shows every event, kept up to date by itself: new events appear, changed ones move, and cancelled ones say Cancelled.

Apple or Outlook Calendar opens your phone's or computer's calendar to subscribe. Google Calendar opens Google's page to add it. Any other calendar app takes the address shown under the links.

Calendar apps check for changes on their own, every few hours. Google can take up to a day.

Tap Take a place, then Yes, take my place. Nothing changes until you press that button. If you're not signed in, you sign in first and come straight back.

A confirmation email follows, with the event's details, its calendar file and a link to give up your place. A reminder comes at noon the day before.

Add to calendar (.ics) saves the event's calendar file. Open it and your phone or computer adds the event to its calendar, with its time and place.

The confirmation email carries the same file.

The page gives when and where, the event organizer who runs it, and the equipment list: a Google Doc of what to bring.

Signed in, you also see the event's organizing contact, the program's own person for it, and the first names of everyone signed up.

On the event's page or your own page, tap Give up my place, then the button on the page it opens. The place is then free for someone else.

Once the event is over, a place can no longer be given up. If the page says you no longer have a place, it was already given up.

Signed in, you see the first names of everyone signed up. If you have a place, or you're the event's organizing contact, Copy all emails for BCC opens their addresses.

A full event takes no new sign-ups, and there is no waitlist. Signed in, the event's page names its organizing contact: ask them about a place.

A cancelled event, or one that has started, takes no sign-ups either. The page says which.

The give-up link in the event's emails works without signing in. It gives up only your place at that event, and only when you press Give up my place.

If the page says the link does not work, sign in, open the event from the events list and give up your place there.

Tap Copy, then paste the addresses into the BCC line of your email, so nobody sees anyone else's address.

These addresses are shown only to people signed up for this event, its organizing contact and admins. Use them for this event only.

Tap Confirm to start season updates to this address. Nothing changes until you tap the button.

Updates cover trailhead days, talks and zone changes, a few times a season. Every email has an unsubscribe link.

A link works only if we sent it, and only for 30 days. For a fresh one, sign up again on tahoebackcountryradio.org.

Tap Unsubscribe to stop season updates to this address. Nothing changes until you tap the button.

Changed your mind? Sign up again on tahoebackcountryradio.org any time.

Installers and admins record each sign they put up: the sign location, which sign, the sign type, a photo and any comments. Your phone adds its position, and you are recorded as the installer.

Saving an install completes that sign on its sign ticket, whoever holds the ticket.

Pick the sign location, or tap Nearest. Then pick the sign. Its colour is filled in for you. Change the support if it differs.

A different colour went up? Say so in Comments.

Add this page to your Home Screen and open it once with signal. After that it saves with none.

A saved install waits on your phone and sends when you open the page with signal.

New to installing? Installing signs, start to finish walks through everything an installer does, in order: signing in, getting approved, taking a sign ticket, picking up the signs and recording each install. Send the link to someone before their first trip.

Patrollers and admins report a day at a trailhead. Pick the trailhead, or tap Nearest, fill in the counts and any notes, then tap Save report.

Users seen, radios seen, stickers handed out, and the most cars parked at once. Every count is needed. Enter 0 for none.

You don't enter the weather. It is added for the time you tap Save, even when the report sends later.

Your report saves on your phone first, so no signal loses nothing. It sends when you open the page with signal or your phone reconnects.

If someone else signs in on this phone, your saved reports wait until you sign in again.

Pages are listed under their section. To find one by its words, type them in Search the wiki. A page shows when it holds every word you typed.

Anyone can read the wiki. Only the site's admins change it. If a page is wrong or missing, tell an admin.

This is a trial of the Patrol's wiki on this site. Its pages are placeholders. The Patrol's own pages come later.

A link in a page goes to another page of the wiki. A word underlined with dashes names a page nobody has written yet.

More in lists the other pages of the same section.

Stewards and admins report a day at a trailhead. Pick the trailhead, or tap Nearest, fill in the counts and any notes, then tap Save report.

Each report you send is also your check-in at that trailhead. It shows on your page, so you don't need to check in again.

A sign ticket is the sign work for one trip: one or more signs to install, replace or take down. Take a ticket to make it yours, then do the work.

Yours lists the tickets you hold. Open sign tickets are the ones nobody has taken yet.

By zone lists every open ticket. Near me puts the closest first, measured on your phone. Mine shows only the tickets you hold.

Admins only. Open the season puts every sign that is not installed onto an install ticket, one ticket per zone. Running it again adds only signs that are new since.

Close the season puts every installed or damaged sign onto a take-down ticket. Admins can also combine open tickets into one.

Tap Take this ticket to make it yours. Can't do it after all? Tap Give this ticket back and it opens for someone else.

Pick up the ticket's signs at one depot. The page shows how many each depot has.

If the shelf has signs the count says it doesn't, tap The shelf has them and enter what you see. The count is corrected and the admins are told.

Keep the signs you'll do. Tick the rest and tap Split. They go on a new open ticket someone else can take.

On a take-down ticket, choose the depot the sign went back to and tap It's down for the summer.

Every sign location by zone, with its signs, their sign states and the last check-in. Filter by sign state at the top.

Needs an installer lists the signs waiting for work, each with its sign ticket. Tap a sign location to open its record.

A check-in from someone not signed in can report a sign damaged or missing. Those reports wait here. Nothing changes until you confirm one on the sign location's record.

The alert names each depot with few signs of a type left, and any overrides at pickup until that depot is next counted. Depots and counts opens the depots page.

One sign location's trailhead signs, sign tickets, sign reports, installs and check-ins this season, with the photo from each sign's last install.

Tap Damaged or Missing beside a sign that is up to report it. A report from this page takes effect at once.

When reports wait on a sign, confirm the one that's right, or dismiss them. Nothing changes until you do.

The AHJ's permission for this sign location shows to admins only. Record it or change it in the Django admin.

Enter how many of each sign type are on the shelf and tap Save the count. Leave a sign type blank to keep its count.

Under Low stock, set how few signs of a type, at any depot, raise the alert here and on the work list.

Each change to a depot's count, with what changed, who made it and when.

How many check-ins each sign location had in the days you picked, most first, with the total. Every check-in counts, anonymous ones included, except demo check-ins. No names or emails show here.

Check-ins with no sign location are counted on their own row, last. The steward check-in report, in the Django admin, counts only check-ins by stewards and patrollers.

Anonymous check-ins gave no email and were not signed in. The rest gave an email or were signed in, installs and patrol reports included.

The page opens on the season so far, from June 1. Pick a From and a To day and tap Show. Both days are included, in Pacific time. Season to date goes back.

Each dot is a sign location, coloured by its sign state. Tap a dot to open that sign location. Where its signs differ, a dot takes the state most needing an installer.

Sign locations with no position are listed under the map.

The Community Radio API is the program's information as an open feed: zones, channels, sign locations and events. Other apps and websites can read it, with a credit to the program.

Pick an address in the menu to see what it answers. Change the settings if you like, then tap Send to see the live answer.

The request shows as curl and as fetch, ready for your own code.

A copy of the Patrol's public website, tbsp.org, brought into this site to look at before deciding whether to carry it over, rewrite it or fold it into the radio site. Search engines don't list it and no menu links here.

The Patrol's own website is still tbsp.org.

Type your email and tap Continue. The questions take about two minutes, and finishing them enters you in the radio drawing.

Your email is how we know your answers are yours. One email is one entry.

If your email has answered this survey before, we email you a link instead of showing the questions. Tap it to see and change your saved answers.

Nobody sees your answers by typing your email. The link proves the address is yours. You stay in the drawing either way.

Finishing the survey enters you to win a Rocky Talkie Expedition radio. The drawing is March 24, 2027.

Each email is entered once, however many times its answers change.

Answer each question and tap Send answers. Questions marked optional can be left blank.

Not your email at the top? Tap Not you? Start again, so your answers are not saved under someone else's address.

Come back to the survey with the same email. We email you a link, and it opens your saved answers. Change any and send them again.

Your new answers replace the old ones. You keep your one entry in the drawing.

Answer Yes to Add me to the TBR mailing list and we send one email to confirm. Updates start once you tap its link.

Every update has an unsubscribe link. Answering No later does not unsubscribe you; use that link.

The new Tahoe Backcountry Radio website is being finished. Until then, everything you need is on the current website.

This page collects the help from every page on this site, grouped by page. The round ? in the lower-right corner of each page opens just that page's topics.