TGR is celebrating its annual Safety Week, training their athletes in all the medical, rescue, and snow science skills they need to stay safe in the backcountry. And the hope is that they inspire others to do the same.
Backcountry skiing is a sport that takes a lot of training and education, if you want to do it safely. It isn’t just about ripping gnarly lines down big mountains (although, that’s a big part of it).
No, to be truly safe in the backcountry, you need to understand avalanche risks, know basic first aid and medical skills, and understand rescue protocol. You’ve got to be able to use a beacon, shovel, and probe. You’ve got to know how to save someone if they get buried or injured in the middle of nowhere.
That’s all easy to overlook when you’re wrapped up in one of Teton Gravity Research’s (TGR) ski movies. When you’re watching TGR athletes like Kai Jones and Nick McNutt carving up untouched slopes, it’s hard to imagine just how much preparation and training the athletes and their team had to get in order to pull off even one of those shots.
Which is part of the reason why TGR celebrates Safety Week every year — hosting the International Pro Rider Workshop (IPRW). The production company gets all of its athletes together under one roof. They review avalanche safety skills and practice them. They learn backcountry medical skills and discuss snow science and snow pack, and how to avoid avalanche terrain.
Throughout the IPRW, TGR releases short edits that give us a peek behind the scenes at how these training sessions go. TGR has inspired countless skiers to get into the backcountry. So, realizing that, it started making these edits to show people how much effort TGR puts into staying safe.
This year, in celebration of Safety Week, TGR is also giving away a pair of Atomic Bent 110s. Enter to win them on TGR’s Instagram page.
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