Northwoods Experience: Avalanche Safety Training Course in Brainerd

Brainerd Lakes Area residents had the opportunity to participate in a three-day-long avalanche safety training session earlier this month.

The Brainerd Fire Department had been vying for an avalanche safety training course the public could immerse itself in and partnered with the Corey Borg-Massanari Foundation, which first launched in 2020, a year following Brainerd native Corey Borg’s passing from an avalanche accident.

“We just had a focus on outdoor safety,” said Bobbie Gorron, founder of the Corey Borg-Massanari Foundation. “We didn’t know exactly where we were going to go from there, but we wanted to try to focus on things locally, but yet also have a broader perspective also. So anything we can do, outdoor safety and awareness, we don’t want to see another family go through what we did.

Avalanches take an average of 28 lives every winter from asphyxiation, trauma, or hypothermia, while also causing substantial economic losses from rescue efforts and blocked transportation.

“Not being immersed in that culture, people just aren’t aware of it,” said Brainerd Fire Chief Tim Holmes. “This is another big activity that people in our community do, so for us to bring it here as the fire department and offer it to the community is just going along with our mission about trying to prevent injuries and accidents from happening.”

Avalanche rescue team members all the way from Colorado flew out to supply knowledge on locating stranded survivors using probes, trackers and beacons, or simply through teamwork.

“An efficient team working together is gonna always be much better, quicker, safer, because it’ll limit the exposure, the amount of time that we’re out there, the amount of time that somebody is underneath the snow that we’re looking for,” explained avalanche safety training instructor John Reller. “So it’s very important to have the right number of people, the right people, and the right trained people.”

Avalanches are not as prevalent a problem in Minnesota as they are in Colorado, but knowing proper protocol in case of an emergency is still essential for all those within the Brainerd Lakes Area as exercise and proper protocol will hopefully lead to all those out on the slopes fully and safely, enjoying the great outdoors.

“A better awareness of their surroundings, what to look for in an avalanche, and that they are thinking, not that they’re memorizing but they have things to think about and tools to use in different situations,” added Reller.

There were roughly 35 people in attendance for the final day of the avalanche safety training. Gorron hopes to make it an annual event.