The Yellowstone Gateway Museum hosts “What’s Behind the Guided Experience? A Ski Guide’s Perspective of Living and Working in the Beartooth & Absaroka Mountains” with guide and presenter Reed Youngbar on Wednesday, November 2, 7:00pm, Park Photo, 115 S. Main St., downtown Livingston. This is the third Guiding the Experience program, an in-person and virtual speaker series held on Wednesdays in October and November. Participants can register for any or all of the Zoom programs at https://www.parkcounty.org/Yellowstone-Gateway-Museum/Guiding-the-Experience-Fall-2022-Speaker-Series//. Programs are uploaded to museum’s YouTube channel after the live virtual event. 

Reed Youngbar has worked for Beartooth Powder Guides in Cooke City, MT since 2017 as guide, avalanche educator, and backcountry hut operator. He became co-owner in 2021. The Beartooth Powder Guides offer guided backcountry skiing options for all abilities, fitness levels, and conditions. From scenic tours in Yellowstone National Park to Cooke City’s classic powder and alpine terrain, Youngbar and other employees guide throughout the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness, the Lamar Valley, and Northeast Entrance to Yellowstone National Park, as well as south of Big Sky. Beartooth Powder Guides also offers a wide variety of Avalanche, Skills and Ski Mountaineering courses in the mountains that surround Cooke City.

Youngbar started backcountry skiing in 1999. In 2001 he got hypothermia while training to earn his Wilderness EMT from NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School). His formal avalanche training began in 2002 when he began work as a ski patroller at Mammoth Mountain in California, where he developed a strong appreciation for mitigating and managing avalanche terrain. Youngbar has also written and photographed for the Outdoor Project as a backcountry skiing educator.

Youngbar graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in Forest Management in 2009. He made his living in the trades to support his passion for splitboarding and surfing during the winters. After 20 years of ski bumming in the Cascade, Sierra, and Beartooth Mountains he began to pursue a career in guiding and avalanche education to share his love of the mountains with others.

Youngbar moved with his wife to Cooke City in 2017. He is a member of Park County Search and Rescue.

The series’ final program is on Wednesday, November 9. Dan Vermillion, Sweetwater Travel Company, gives a program titled “Stories from a Fishing Guide on the Yellowstone River and Beyond.” All programs are held in-person at 7:00pm, Park Photo, 115 S. Main St., Livingston, MT and via Zoom with a suggested donation of $5.00.

Visit Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for program updates or contact Karen Reinhart, 222-4184 or kreinhart@parkcounty.org. Register for Zoom programs at www.yellowstonegatewaymuseum.org; please call if you need assistance.T