Bruce Tremper, Director of Utah’s Avalanche Center
This is the fourth video in our series covering a panel of industry experts discussing avalanche risk in backcountry skiing and the industry’s part in that, hosted at Outdoor Retail Winter by Verde PR.
In today’s clip, Bruce Tremper, director of Utah’s Avalanche Center, discusses reaching backcountry skiers with information and how to get information from them:
Quick Summary
Tremper said, trying to reach Canadian & US backcountry skiers, he’s hired a marketing group to create “Project Zero” with focus groups looking at out of bounds skiers and snowboarders.
Trying to get a better handle on demographics first, the marketing group can find the best way to reach those skiers and snowboarders, he said.
“We are avalanche folks, we are not marketers, we are not surveyors, so we really depend on everybody else to help us,” Tremper said.
He looked at Sweden’s Vision Zero project to reduce traffic accidents as a shared responsibility for safety.
“I see that as the future of where we need to go,” Tremper said. “So it has to be the manufacturers and the ski areas and the avalanche centers and the media, and the film companies that are making the extreme films.”
This holistic approach is an interesting one as more people access the backcountry. What are your thoughts? Let us know below.
© 2015
3 comments
I still remember going to one of Tremper’s talks in Salt Lake when I was just getting started. He started by holding up a beacon and I expected him to extol having a beacon and knowing how to use it. Instead he threw it at the floor and said it was more likely to get you killed than save your life because it would give you an artificial sense of security. I’ll never forget that. That was 1995.
Thanks for the info you have shared. I like this. Very informative.
Now magnify that sense of security at least 10x and you have the airbag pack. I don’t think beacons instill that security, at least they don’t for me or anyone who has actually used them. But airbag packs make a more convincing case, and thus can tempt users to take greater risks. Count me guilty as charged, that’s how I know. A beacon never did that to me.