- Date
- Thursday, December 3, 2020
- Tagged under
BRP/Ski-Doo loan two snowmobiles to support Avalanche Canada public forecasts
Snowmobiles are essential to Avalanche Canada’s public safety programs. They allow our field teams to collect valuable snowpack information and engage with riders in the field, where they recreate.
We are extremely grateful to BRP/Ski-Doo for supporting us this winter by loaning us two BRP Summit 850 snowmobiles for the 2020-21 winter season. These sleds have come to us through Banner Recreation in Vernon, BC. They are even important to us this year due to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Our public avalanche forecasts are produced with data provided by avalanche professionals working for various backcountry operations. This winter, we know many won’t be running, or will have much smaller programs, meaning there will be less data on which to base our forecasts. On top of this, we’re expecting many more people to be recreating in the backcountry this winter.
Photo: Two loaner snowmobiles from BRP/Ski-Doo loaded onto an AvCan truck outside the Banner Recreation dealership in Vernon, BC. From left: Gilles Valade, Executive Director of Avalanche Canada; Kevin Marshall, General Manager of Banner Recreation; Savanna Lebans, Parts for Banner Recreation; and Mike Ross, Sales for Banner Recreation. By James Floyer
Our goal this winter is to produce daily avalanche bulletins for our 14 forecast regions without being disrupted by the pandemic. To make up for the lack of professional observations, we’ll be sending our forecasters into the field more often to fill in the gaps in data. To do that, we need more snowmobiles so they can reach locations to conduct their fieldwork.
BRP/Ski-Doo’s support allows us to get our people into the field more often so we can keep producing the forecasts that backcountry users rely on to make good decisions while they’re out having fun.
"Ski-Doo is fully committed to rider safety—especially when it comes to riding in avalanche terrain," says Annick Lauzon, director, global marketing, for Ski-Doo We recognize the work Avalanche Canada does to keep snowmobilers safe from avalanches and thank them for going above and beyond their call of duty. We are happy to support their field teams by providing snowmobiles for access and collaborating to help keep all riders safe"
BRP/Ski-Doo has been a long-time supporter of public avalanche safety. They support our programs and have offered free avalanche education to all riders, regardless of brand, for more than a decade.
