FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Avalanche Alliance HQ
Rigby, Idaho
AVALANCHE ALLIANCE FUNDS GRANTED TO U.S. AVALANCHE CENTERS
Avalanche Alliance is proud to announce $119,365 in funds are being granted to U.S. avalanche centers following this year’s successful sweepstakes. Fund usage ranges across 11 avalanche centers including increased avalanche monitoring and education, backcountry weather stations for forecasting, added forecasting personnel and expenses, trailhead avy education, safety equipment, and even a snowmobile for forecasting transportation purposes. Additional funds were donated by the Hunter Houle Foundation to build beacon check stations.
For the 2021 Sweepstakes, Avalanche Alliance partnered with Lynx, Fly Racing, KLIM, Marlon, Timbersled and others to give away a custom-built 2022 Lynx Boondocker 850 with many other incredible prizes to raise money for avalanche awareness and education initiatives around the U.S.
Avalanche Alliance is made up of multiple companies and organizations across the motorized community who all collaborate to bring Avalanche Education and Awareness to the forefront of our industry. Proceeds from these sweepstakes will be awarded to avalanche centers in support of motorized-focused projects and programs.
This has been a monumental step for the motorized snowsport community, with brands and riders joining together for the common goal of reducing avalanche fatalities among the community. The need for motorized-specific avalanche safety improvements remains significant, and this partnership of like-minded brands and organizations indicates a noteworthy step towards improvements in training, forecasting and infrastructure for the benefit of riders everywhere.
"Avalanche Centers are a key link in the connection between the snowmobiling community and the goal of reducing the impact of avalanches and avalanche accidents,” said Jeff Hambelton, AIARE Motorized Program Manager and NWAC staff member. “With these sweepstakes, we can support Avalanche Centers' efforts to build better tools for the motorized community.”
Avalanche centers, while partially funded in the U.S. by the Forest Servic, rely on strong community support for their efforts to present the most up-to-date and useful information for backcountry travelers. Avalanche centers fund and manage remote weather stations, employ forecasters to track and interpret field and weather data, and increasingly play a leading role in education efforts for underserved populations in the backcountry.
Avalanche safety is extremely important to motorized users. This fundraiser was a way for Avalanche Alliance to join snowmobilers, snowbikers, manufacturers, avalanche centers and others together in support of avalanche safety initiatives. More fundraisers in the future will continue to support these efforts.
About Avalanche Alliance
Avalanche Alliance’s mission is to raise avalanche awareness and improve backcountry safety for motorized users. With a full spectrum of focuses ranging from sponsoring beacon check stations to supporting avalanche educators, Avalanche Alliance is at the forefront of avalanche safety improvement. For more information, visit avalanche-alliance.org/
About AIARE
AIARE was established in 1998 as a nonprofit educational organization to address the need for a nationally recognized curriculum for avalanche education in the USA. Since that time AIARE has developed research-based Professional and Recreational avalanche training for backcountry users in the United States, South America and Europe. AIARE’s Recreational Program is represented by over 115 course providers and 550 AIARE-trained instructors; the Professional Program designs and instructs workplace safety training for professionals working in the avalanche industry. Through these programs, AIARE educates over 19,000 students annually.
In 2017, AIARE created an official Motorized Program aimed to increase educational resources, participation and awareness in the motorized community. Working alongside experts in the snowmobile community, we’ve trained 16 snowmobilers to professional instructor standards, to date, and created motorized-specific training in AIARE’s Recreational and Professional programs.
AIARE’s partnership with the Live Large University (LLU) scholarship fund supports motorized backcountry riders pursuing education. While AIARE has a robust network of 110 providers in the US, few providers exclusively teach motorized-specific programming. The Live Large University scholarship’s goal is to increase the number of trained motorized professionals, improving the AIARE network's ability to serve the motorized community. The LLU fund awards full and partial scholarships to students taking AIARE Motorized Recreational Courses, PRO 1, PRO 2 and Instructor Training Courses. For more information, visit avtraining.org/
About KLIM
KLIM Technical Riding Gear is a global leader in designing, developing, sourcing and distributing the most advanced powersports apparel for snowmobile, motorcycle and off-road riding. Utilizing the world’s most premium technologies in waterproof, breathable, durable and comfortable materials, KLIM offers gear for the most demanding riders. Driven by the continual feedback and input from dedicated test pilots and passionate customers, KLIM strives to do one thing above all – enhance the riding experience. For more information, visit KLIM.com.