The Canadian Avalanche Centre has been given a brand new Yamaha snowmobile to help them gather data in the Fernie backcountry.
The snowmobile, a Nytro MTX, was acquired by the CAC to assist in its information gathering. Ian Tomm, the executive director of the CAC, said the snowmobile would be used to gather field information in the southern Canadian Rockies, around Fernie, B.C. – an area heavily used by mountain snowmobilers.
"This year we're building out a data observation in the southern Rockies in order to improve data quality in the Fernie area," Tomm said. "Snowmobiles are really effective tools for data collectors to get out."
Tomm said the Southern Rockies were the focus for this year. The area has limited snowpack information coming through the CAC's Info-Ex, so the snowmobile will be used to gather more information.
Randy Swenson, the regional manager for Yamaha, helped arrange support for the CAC to purchase the snowmobile. He said Yamaha was of its alignment with the CAC. "Yamaha was the first snowmobile manufaturer to sponsor the work of the CAC and we continue to raise money for their snowmobile programs," he said.