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September 2021

Our Members Educate, Inspire, and Empower

Winter Wildlands Alliance members are our everything. We are skiers and snowboarders. Snowshoers and mountaineers. Dog sledders and fat bike riders. We come together to celebrate winter, inspire action and keep winter wild. As a member, you introduce 34,000+ kids annually to snowshoes and snow science. You bring the stoke to the Backcountry Film Festival. You take action for human powered winter recreation. You give voice to the forests, the flurries, the wild winter landscapes. You keep winter wild.

A Season of Ski Kind: Take the Pledge

What has been the impact of the Backcountry Responsibility Code since its launch in 2020? In an effort to bring a sense of community and humbleness to a ski season that seemed to be in jeopardy from every angle: Ski Kind was born. Conceived as a set of guidelines to promote responsible winter recreation, Winter Wildlands Alliance joined forces with Granite Backcountry Alliance to bring the Code to the backcountry community all winter long.

Policy Update – August 2021

In this month’s policy update from our Policy Director, Hilary Eisen: Watch our Grassroots Advocacy Conference panel recordings, the infrastructure bill, Little Cottonwood Canyon in Utah, winter travel planning, and more!

The Local Advocate: Friends of Plumas Wilderness

WWA grassroots group Friends of Plumas Wilderness (FoPW) is currently deep in the trenches on a forest planning project, and this kind of local grassroots advocacy rarely sees the limelight it deserves. With WWA’s relentless focus on winter landscapes, sometimes forest planning doesn’t get the sexy status it could, whether on a local or national scale.

Grassroots Advocacy Conference: Watch + Listen

Did you miss our 9th Biennial (and first virtual) Grassroots Advocacy Conference? No worries: you can watch or listen to all the recorded sessions on our website! Topics range from the backcountry boom, forest planning, ski area expansion and responsible influence with world-class panelists.

We Need Snow Cinema!

We’re amping up to “Embrace the BRR!” at this winter’s Backcountry Film Festival tour and we need your films! We screen cinematic stories of outdoor stewardship, grassroots policy and advocacy work, backcountry adventure, and snow cinema by human-powered advocates, athletes, brands, activists, adventurers, and outdoor enthusiasts. We like pow shots and epic skiing but we also want to be inspired and share a good story. Tell us who you are and why you are out in the backcountry. We also like stories of conservation and environmental issues that impact winter recreation.

Last Call for Gear On Sale

Get the last bits of our 2021 gear on sale now! Prices go back up to normal rates in October. From truckers to gloves to drinkware, there is something for everyone on sale in our store right now. All purchases directly support our efforts to keep winter wild and continue to advocate for our Alliance members. Why not share your wild winter love with the gear you use in the backcountry (and everywhere for that matter)?

Wild Winter Events

Don’t miss out on the following upcoming wild winter events hosted by us and our partners! Make sure to bookmark our website calendar or follow us as we post events in the next few weeks.

September 25 is National Public Lands Day! Established in 1994, National Public Lands Day is traditionally the nation’s largest single-day volunteer effort. It celebrates the connection between people and green space in their community, inspires environmental stewardship, and encourages use of open space for education, recreation, and health benefits. Plan to #RecreateResponsibly and find a volunteer opportunity to give back to your local public lands!

Project #GIMBY is back! Granite Backcountry Alliance, a WWA grassroots group, is hosting their annual glade projects across the East. Lots of new terrain coming your way so be sure to schedule one or two days with GBA this Fall at their glade tour signup here.

Bluebird Backcountry is back at Bear Mountain this season! Learn about all their exciting updates this season, including 12 new runs and 4 new skin tracks, updates to our memberships, new advanced courses, Weekday and Next Gen season passes, and so much more! Virtual get together tonight, Thursday 9/2. Check their Instagram for more info on when/how to join!

WWA grassroots group, Idaho Conservation League, is leading their end-of-season clean-up in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area near Stanley, ID. Plan to participate between September 12 – 25: choose a frontcountry or backcountry project and when you plan to go, then sign-up! You will receive instructions on where to pick up supplies and what to do over email. Not based in Idaho? Plan to clean-up in your local area any time you’re out there during the month of September to celebrate National Public Lands Day.

#KEEPWINTERWILD

“The crew that does it all: Winter Wildlands Alliance staff! It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to see our community, let alone spend some time with each other. So grateful to get together again at our home base in Boise, ID, to share some laughs and good times.“

Read more at our Instagram profile.