This weekend Avalanche Awareness Day takes place at Kimberley Alpine Resort. On Saturday, Jan. 19, members of Kimberley Search and Rescue (SAR) will be working alongside BC AdventureSmart and other industry mountain safety professionals to dive into mountain safety.
There have been a number of avalanche warnings across the Purcell and Rocky Mountains recently, primarily due to a weak base layer that formed in October, according to Avalanche Canada. Avalanche Awareness Day aims to increase safety awareness to those who recreate both at the ski hill and in the backcountry.
READ MORE: Upcoming events at Kimberley Alpine Resort
Sandra Riches, Executive Director and BC Coordinator for Adventure Smart says that BC has over 1,600 SAR incidents annually, with 80 SAR groups consisting of 2,500 volunteers responding to those incidents.
“BC AdventureSmart increases awareness to help reduce the number and severity of incidents by delivering outdoor recreation safety programs to outdoor enthusiasts, students at schools, outdoor clubs and workplaces to upwards of 20,000 face-to-face annually,” said Riches. “Additionally, we host special events in provincial and national parks, at trail heads and on ski-hills with season and specific sport messaging.”
Activities kick off at noon on Saturday and run until 4p.m.. There will be demo’s for the latest avalanche equipment at the SAR booth in the plaza, and SAR will be on hand to answer any questions.
There will also be transceiver education and game search in the plaza from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m., and a demonstration with SAR and their avalanche dog at 1p.m.. Everything wraps up at 4 p.m. with prizes in the Stemwinder.
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