Nearly four years ago, in January 2015, two promising ski athletes, Bryce Astle and Ronnie Berlack, were killed in an avalanche in Solden, Austria.
Now, their families are aiming to create something worthwhile out of a tragedy with the BRASS Foundation, which teaches about avalanche safety.
The name “BRASS” stands for “Bryce and Ronnie Avalanche Snow Safety.”
Jamie and Laura Astle, the parents of Utah native Bryce, talked about a video they’ve created, to offer avalanche classes across the country.
Jamie said they were surprised by what they learned after the tragedy.
“What we learned through this whole process is that the coaches that take various kids from probably age 14 all the way through the U.S. Ski team, they don’t necessarily have any snow safety training.” Jamie Astle explained, “That was a shocker to us. One of the things that BRASS is doing is to make sure that coaches have the appropriate training.”
European practices on off-trail areas are different from this continent.
“In North America, if you go to a ski resort, you are skiing in a controlled environment.” Jamie Astle continued, “In Europe and other places in the world, for example where the boys were, if you ski off of a groomed run one inch you’re skiing—even though you’re right in the middle of a ski resort—in an out of bounds or an uncontrolled environment. In the case with most people they’re going to go skiing. Chances are they’re not going to look at an avalanche report. If you’re going to Park City or Deer Valley or something like that you just going to go ski. Well surprise, you ski off of a groomed run in Europe you’re skiing in an uncontrolled environment. That is information that the boys did not receive.”
Their 13-minute video is called “Off Piste”—a reference among skiers to being in the backcountry or off a groomed trail.
“It’s really meant to grab you by the neck and shake ya and open your eyes.” Jamie Astle said, “The more people that see this video, it’s going to save lives, flat out because it’ll grab you. It’s really two parts. It’ a reenactment of what happened, kind of toned down a little bit to protect the innocent. It’s also an educational type of a movie that gives you an idea of what you need to know before you go out and go skiing in an area that’s not controlled.”
The video also features such world-renowned athletes as Ted Ligety, Mikaela Shiffren, and Steven Nyman. Jamie said there are a couple of reasons for that.
“Especially in the racing world so you have skiers at that level that they maybe have never skied off of a groomed run in their lives.” Jamie Astle explained, “They could be great skiers but that doesn’t mean they know what they’re doing in the backcountry. You take Bryce. Bryce was quite possibly the next Ted Ligety. He was the top Junior Technical Skier in North America and still had 30 lbs. of muscle to put on. He grew up skiing powder not skiing groomed runs. Those people that are in there, it’s good because of name recognition so they see those people. All levels, from the top skier in the world down to a young kid they need to be aware.”
The video has been well received—getting nearly a million views over just a couple of days. It’s been seen in Germany, Japan and South America.
“It’s a big thing.” Jamie Astle continued, “We had the Alta Ski Patrol tell me that they wanted something that was kind of like red asphalt back in the days. Well this comes close in the ski world.”
Laura Astle noted that recently a memorial was placed at the avalanche site in Solden.
“There was a memorial placed on the site of the hill.” Laura Astle said, “On the run they passed away on. Now it’s being mitigated regularly and all the signs in Solden are now in English. A lot of them have their photos, they care a lot and they’re making those changes. So, it’s very nice.”
Laura Astle also said that when skiers go off the groomed trails, they should have a guide, and be equipped with a beacon, a shovel and a probe.
