- Date
- Wednesday, July 3, 2024
Avalanche Canada honoured MEC with the 2024 Gordon Ritchie Service Award for exceptional commitment to public avalanche safety
Our Executive Director Gilles Valade was recently in Vancouver to present the Gordon Ritchie Service Award to MEC for their decades-long support for public avalanche safety. Since 2009, the award has acknowledged individuals or organizations who show exceptional commitment to public avalanche safety. In its 15-year history, MEC is only the second organization to win this award.
Later this fall, Avalanche Canada celebrates twenty years of service in public avalanche safety, and MEC has shown loyal, unwavering dedication since the very beginning. MEC's mission in the outdoors has always gone beyond supplying gear for getting people outside. They're also dedicated to providing programs and initiatives that teach crucial outdoor skills and safety training in the backcountry. As the presenting sponsor of Avalanche Canada’s Avalanche Skill Training (AST) program, MEC provides funding to keep the curriculum updated with the latest in avalanche research, tools and techniques and helps more than 10,000 students per year learn critical avalanche safety skills.
As well as supporting AST training, MEC also hosts avalanche awareness outreach events in their stores. They also provide valuable gear for our staff and for outreach and fundraising initiatives.
MEC also funds Avalanche Canada's MEC Avalanche Safety Grant every year for nonprofit organizations that serve racialized communities and help to support more people gaining access to winter backcountry safety training. We’re grateful to partner with MEC to reduce some barriers in accessing winter backcountry pursuits and enable even more Canadians to safely pursue outdoor adventures.
MEC is also a proud supporter of our online avalanche safety tutorial AvySavvy. MEC is an enthusiastic collaborator bringing great ideas to the table and our partnership has saved lives. Over the last two decades, MEC has had a significant impact on the safety of Canadians travelling in avalanche terrain and we are honoured to call MEC a partner in our mission of improving public avalanche safety in Canada. We’re excited to see what we can achieve together in the years to come!