Ryan Gellert, then of Black Diamond Equipment.
Last January 2014, at the annual Outdoor Retailer Winter show Verde PR teamed up with Emerald Expo to convene a panel of industry leaders to talk about the Business of the Backcountry. In the 1st video in this series, Bruce Tremper discusses the high volume of new backcountry skiers and what that means to avalanche safety, click here to see that.
In today’s video, the third in the series, Ryan Gellert, then with Black Diamond, addresses a similar question as posed to Mike Hattrup in the second video (click here) about a manufacturer of backcountry skiing equipment’s responsibility in backcountry safety education.
Gellert, now with Patagonia, had a similar take to Hattrup, but was clear to emphasis that a line in the sand has to be drawn between what a manufacturer can reasonably do to educate its backcountry customers and where each individual has to take responsibility for themselves.
“Our approach has been make good equipment, ensure that its safe and then provide some educational componants,” Gellert said. “People have got to see themselves as responsible for the choices they make.”
Black Diamond has seen a lot of parallels between backcountry skiing and rock climbing as a manufacturer and in safety, he said, where a lot of the information provided with equipment unfortunately is made to mitigate liability.
Stay tuned for the next in this series of videos, and let us know what you think in the comments below.
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