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Utah
Avalanche Center partners with Backcountry.com to
develop unique avalanche education program for
you adults in Utah
Following
a winter that saw three youth avalanche
fatalities in Utah
by Base Camp
Communications
HEBER CITY, Utah (Sept. 29, 2004) – The
Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center today
announced that it will partner with Backcountry.com , the Web’s fastest
growing destination for high-end specialty
outdoor gear, to develop a first-of-its-kind
avalanche safety campaign specifically developed
for and targeted to school-age children in Utah.
Called “Know Before You Go”, the one
hour education program will be taught in
participating junior high and high schools in
Utah as an annual assembly, to any gathering of
young outdoor enthusiasts such as Boy Scout
troops and to outdoor recreation programs at
universities. As of early September, more than 30
area schools had expressed interest in the
program.
The program has three parts: a 15-minute,
narrated video showing avalanches, people
triggering avalanches and the destructive power
of avalanches; a local avalanche professional
telling stories about close calls or accidents
they have experienced ; and a 15 -minute
PowerPoint presentation about the basics of how
to recognize avalanche terrain, how to recognize
obvious signs of instability, safe travel
practices, an overview of avalanche rescue
equipment and self-rescue procedures, and where
to obtain information about current avalanche
conditions.
“A critical need exists for basic avalanche
education for junior high through college age
students in Utah,” said Craig Gordon, an
avalanche forecaster at the Utah Avalanche Center.
“Just as students in Hawaii learn about the
dangers of rip tides and shore breaks at an early
age, students in Utah need to learn about
avalanches. The rising numbers of young avalanche
victims have demonstrated an obvious need for
basic avalanche education.”
One and a half million Utah residents live
immediately adjacent to some of the most
dangerous and easily accessible avalanche terrain
in the United States. Over the past eight years,
nine young snowboarders have died in avalanches
in Utah.
The most notorious event occurred on the day
after Christmas in 2003. Fourteen people were
recreating near Aspen Grove in the run-out zone
of one of the largest avalanche paths in Utah
during one of the most intense snowstorms Utah
had experienced in several years. Three young
snowboarders died in a massive avalanche.
“After last season’s disaster in Aspen
Grove, it became clear that the backcountry was
attracting a younger, less-savvy group of users,”
said Dustin Robertson, Backcountry.com’s
marketing director. “It was also clear that
a basic avalanche education could have prevented
these deaths. It is our hope not only that this
will save lives of children in Utah, but that the
program can be modeled in other North American
mountain communities as well.”
The program will be a turn-key operation through
which local avalanche professionals such as ski
patrollers, ski guides and avalanche educators
give presentations.
The Know Before You Go avalanche education
program is administered by the Friends of the
Utah Avalanche Center, a non-profit, tax-exempt
organization in which raises private funding for
the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center (FSUAC)
and promotes avalanche safety in Utah. The staff
of the FSUAC will design, create and supervise
the project. The FSUAC staff is nationally
recognized among the in avalanche education and
for communication of critical avalanche
information to the public.
About Backcountry.com: With offices in Park
City, Utah and Salt Lake City, Utah, Backcountry.com
is an e-commerce company that sells specialty
outdoor gear for backcountry excursions,
including backpacking, climbing, skiing,
snowboarding, climbing and adventure travel.
Founded in 1996, Backcountry.com now services
outdoor gear aficionados in search of the best
outdoor gear and ships orders out of a state of
the art warehouse in Salt Lake City, Utah. The
company has been recognized as a Top 50 Web site
by Internet Retailer Magazine, one of the top 25
retailers by Outdoor Business, featured on CNBC’s
Squawk Box and profiled by the Associated Press.
For more information, contact Mike Geraci, Base
Camp Communications, (307) 734-7575, mgeraci@base-camp1.com.
About The Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center:
The Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center has
operated since 1980 and provides daily
backcountry avalanche and mountain weather
information to the public who recreate in Utah’s
backcountry. The Utah Avalanche Center is
recognized as one of the top regional avalanche
centers in North America. The Utah Avalanche
Center staff has appeared on over a dozen
national and international documentaries about
avalanches and is regularly featured on most of
the national news networks. In addition to
forecasting duties, the UAC staff teaches dozens
of avalanche courses throughout northern Utah
each season and is in high demand as avalanche
educators. The center is co-located at the
National Weather Service Forecast Office near the
Salt Lake City Airport.
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James
E. Bohne, Jr., REALTOR®
Mobile: (801) 791-9579
Office: (801) 476-9500
Fax: (801) 476-9581
E-mail: j.e.bohne@att.net |
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