This week, the Friends of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center and the Utah Avalanche Center released the revamped edition of the avalanche awareness program Know Before You Go (KBYG).
Know Before You Go from Trent Meisenheimer on Vimeo.
KBYG was developed in 2004 to provide greater avalanche awareness to inexperienced backcountry users of the junior-high and high-school age. According to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, an average of 27 people died each winter in U.S. avalanches over the last 10 seasons, and KBYG is seeking to reduce that number through a new educational initiative geared toward a wider audience.
“Know Before You Go is an exciting and entertaining education program that will help our kids stay safe while they are living, working, or playing in the mountains,” Ethan Greene, Director of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, explained in KBYG’s recent press release. “This program is not just for kids, either,” adds Paul Diegel, Executive Director of the Utah Avalanche Center. “Thousands of adult skiers, snowboarders, snowmobilers, hikers, hunters and others have learned from this exciting program.”
KBYG is a 40- to 80-minute program taught by an avalanche professional that highlights avalanche dangers, terrain navigation, reporting avalanches and five steps of preparation: (1) Get the gear, (2) Get the training, (3) Get the forecast, (4) Get the picture, (5) Get out of harm’s way. To illustrate this program, KBYG released a 10-minute video describing these steps and highlighting the real-life dangers of traveling in avalanche terrain.
It’s all meant to help backcountry users “see the destructive power of avalanches, understand when and why they happen, and how to have fun in the mountains while avoiding avalanches,” the press release explains. Check out the video below, and to learn more about the program and how it’s being used as an educational tool for the classroom, head to kbyg.org.
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