OCR Text |
Show B-6 The Park Record Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, December 12-15, 2020 C Colorado devotes ad dollars A to backcountry awareness a State urges users to be cautious as busy season looms JASON BLEVINS The Colorado Sun In a normal year, late fall features Colorado ads enticing would-be vacationers from New York, Chicago, Dallas and Phoenix with images of powdery playgrounds. EXPERIENCE THE MAGIC OF SHOPPING LOCAL Over 30 Creative Brands from Park City / Summit County December 11-31st Mon-Wed 12-6pm / Thurs-Sun 12-8pm 544 Main Street / Park City Private Shopping Available by Appointment info: BRANDEDPC.ORG an arts council project generously presented by But in this anything-but-normal year, the Colorado Tourism Office isn’t peddling vacations to out-of-state tourists. The office is redirecting its winter budget toward state residents with a call for responsible recreation in the remote winter wildlands. It’s not a clarion call to adventure in the backcountry. It’s a plea for heads-up playtime. “The message we are sharing is safety,” said Cathy Ritter, the director of the Colorado Tourism Office. “We are operating from a position that we believe plenty of people will be heading into the backcountry already and we don’t want to be adding to that number.” Colorado’s outdoors was exceptionally busy this year. As more Coloradans turn to the mountains for respite, search and rescue teams are frazzled and land managers are stressed. They endured a record number of drowning in lakes and rivers this year and endless calls for help. And heading into what will be an extraordinarily busy winter in the backcountry, an alphabet soup of state and federal agencies are joining outdoor businesses and groups in a winter-long campaign asking Colorado’s winter backcountry explorers to ponder risks, be responsible and show respect. The four-month Colorado Backcountry Winter Safety Campaign launches Monday, with a weeklong build toward urging all backcountry adventurers to take a safety pledge to “Know Before You Go,” “Recreate Responsibly” and “Care BEN OLSON/PARK RECORD Increased usage of backcountry terrain is expected this year in the West due to the coronavirus pandemic. Colorado is putting money typically used for tourism advertising toward backcountry safety campaigns. for Colorado.” The effort includes the Colorado Tourism Office, Outdoor Recreation Industry Office, Colorado Avalanche Information Center, Colorado Search and Rescue Association, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the Colorado Department of Transportation, which clears trailhead parking lots, making the plow driver the bouncer of the backcountry this season. (Watch for aggressive ticketing by police and Forest Service, too, as parking overwhelms mountain trailheads.) The state and federal agencies are joined by a couple dozen conservation and backcountry groups as well as businesses, guides and local governments in Colorado’s high-country. “It’s been just an incredible, blossoming partnership,” said Lauren Truitt, Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s assistant director for information and education. “This is something so brand new and so impactful, with all of us leveraging and lifting a similar core message through very different channels that allows our reach to go so much further.” The effort was sparked by a meeting in Gov. Jared Polis’ office in early September. Search and rescue teams around the state, stressed by a busy summer, were fretting an equally frantic winter. Backcountry guides and avalanche educators Please see Avalanche, B-7 New Equipment is Expensive |