Avalanche Canada’s vision is to inspire, engage, and empower recreationists to enjoy Canada’s winter backcountry and be safe from avalanches. As Canada’s national public avalanche safety organization, they produce daily avalanche forecasts for mountainous regions across western Canada. They also administer the national standard in recreational avalanche safety training and deliver outreach to winter backcountry users of all types.
MEC Avalanche Safety Grant
This grant is aimed at non-profit organizations that serve racialized communities and will allow more people to access the winter backcountry safely. Avalanche Canada is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2022 MEC Avalanche Safety Grant, which is providing Avalanche Skills Training courses to four organizations serving IBPOC (Indigenous, Black, and People of Colour) communities. Applications will re-open September 2023.
MEC has supported Avalanche Canada since 2001, and we believe in their mission to educate more skiers, snowboarders and snowshoers about avalanche safety. As the presenting sponsor of Avalanche Canada’s Avalanche Skill Training (AST) program, MEC provides funding to help keep the curriculum updated with the latest in avalanche research, tools and techniques. An impressive 12,000 students learn avalanche safety skills through this program each year.
As the national standard for recreational avalanche training, Avalanche Canada makes sure all folks can receive foundational skills for a lifetime of safe winter backcountry adventures.
Online avalanche tutorial and webinars
Outreach is an important part of Avalanche Canada’s work. They connect directly with winter backcountry users in person and online, and have events each winter to reach a diverse audience, no matter the sport or skill level. Connecting with backcountry users where they’re at – in terms of geography, goals and experience – is vital to developing a broad culture of avalanche safety. MEC’s funding directly supports these important outreach initiatives, events and communication plans.
If you’re new to the backcountry, check out Avy Savvy. It’s Avalanche Canada’s free online avalanche tutorial and designed to be a precursor to the Avalanche Canada Training Program.
From October 2021 to March 2022, check out the free webinar series on all kinds of backcountry topics, including recognizing avalanche terrain, getting the most out of the Mountain Weather Forecast, leveraging social media for a safer winter, and lots more.
