A new AIARE safety quiz about winter backcountry travel has sweet rewards: a Weston Backcountry Backwood Splitboard or Summit Skis with custom artwork by Renan Ozturk. Plus, win a scholarship for avalanche safety courses.
This winter’s volatile snowpack and pandemic stress are reasons alone for recreationists to prioritize avalanche education. Avalanche fatalities nationwide reached a historic high recently, with the most recorded loss in more than a century.
To elevate awareness, the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE) launched a campaign to engage folks in avalanche safety. And it’s incentivized by one-of-a-kind backcountry gear.
After completing an online quiz, seven contestants will receive gear, avalanche course funds, or both to support their backcountry exploration. The AIARE-developed test covers basic avalanche safety knowledge. It’s similar to the course final of “Recreational Training: AIARE 1.”
Participants enter their responses for 26 multiple-choice questions, then receive corrections and additional resources at the end. Finishers are entered into the gear-and-scholarship drawing regardless of their results.
Prizes
Grand Prize
The grand prize winner will receive two setups of their choice (splitboard or skis) plus $1,000 to support an AIARE-certified course for them and their touring partner.
2nd Place Prize
At this level, the winner will receive a pair of skis or splitboard, plus $500 toward an AIARE-certified course.
3rd Place Prize
Four separate winners will receive $300 toward an AIARE-certified course.
Artistic Flair
The campaign’s eye-catching limited-edition equipment is not available at retail. AIARE, Tincup Whiskey, and Weston Backcountry partnered with landscape artist Renan Ozturk, an expedition climber and filmmaker, to create the artistic goods.
On a backpacking trip last fall, Ozturk painted the custom artwork featured on the Backwoods Splitboard ($899) and Summit Skis ($849) for contest winners.
How to Enter
Previous and current students of a 2020-2021 AIARE course can complete the quiz, free of cost. “If a student takes an AIARE course, at the end of their embedded test is the option to be entered into the drawing,” said AIARE Executive Director Vickie Hormuth.
Not enrolled in an AIARE course this winter? Donate $100 to enter the quiz and raffle at tincupwhiskey.com or avtraining.org. The raised funds will support the creation of complimentary virtual avalanche education.
The nonprofit will use the test results to inform their future curriculum. It will also use the data to determine a baseline for the retained knowledge of former students and the general public.
The avalanche knowledge test will be up and running from Feb. 25 to April 14, 2021, with winners announced on April 15.
