Get outside, get active, and help support Avalanche Canada with the Backyard Backcountry Challenge. This is not a race. It’s not about the fastest or longest journey. The Challenge is to motivate, energize, and share your backcountry activities in your backyard. No need to travel outside your community. Spend the month of March connecting with your friends in your backyard in the great Canadian winter. Travel safely and check avalanche.ca before you go.
The virtual challenge is to climb the equivalent vertical of Mount Everest, the highest point on the planet at 8,849 metres or 29,028 feet, a feat only about 5,000 people have accomplished. Log your daily activities (skiing, splitboarding, snowshoeing, hiking etc.) on Race Roster making your way up to Everest base camp, through the Khumbu Icefield, past Camp II to the Lhotse Face, through Camps III and IV leading to the Hillary Step and finally the Summit! Post your photos with the hashtag #backcountrychallenge and post MIN (Mountain Information Network) reports with the AvCan mobile app on Apple IOS or Android.
NEW - Climb the Seven Summits! Feeling Ambitious? Tackle the 7 highest peaks (43,316 metres) on each of the 7 continents: Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, Mount Vinson and Carstensz Pyramid. If you've already registered for the Everest Challenge and want to change, contact the organizer to have your registration moved.
By participating in the Challenge, you will support the programs and services of Avalanche Canada including the daily avalanche forecasts that help us make good decisions and travel safely in the backcountry in our backyard.
The Challenge runs February 14 - March 31, 2021. Please note that activities can be logged retroactively.
Registration fees
Prices are inclusive of mandatory charges, items, and fees
Climb Mt. Everest Closed
A processing fee of $3.36 will be added to your registration fee.
-
CA$30.00Feb 14 - Mar 31
Climb the Seven Summits Closed
Feeling Ambitious? Tackle the 7 highest peaks on each of the 7 continents: Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, Mount Vinson and Carstensz Pyramid. A processing fee of $3.36 will be added to your registration fee.
-
CA$30.00Feb 14 - Mar 31
Included with Your Registration
- All registrants get a 45-day FATMAP Explore membership
- First 30 registrants get a 3-month FATMAP Explore membership (FULL)
- First 250 registrants get an Avalanche Canada neck tube
- Eligible for weekly door prizes from FATMAP, BCA, MEC, The North Face, Marcus Baranow, Avalanche Canada, and Herschel Supply Co.
- Eligible for 2 grand prizes from Mammut
Registration fees are not eligible for tax receipts
Thanks to our Sponsors
Weekly door prizes will be drawn March 7, 14, 21, and 28, 2021. The Grand Prizes will be drawn on April 1, 2021.
Grand Prizes: Mammut Pro Protection Airbag 3.0 and Barryvox S transceiver
Weekly Door Prizes:
FATMAP One-year FATMAP Explore memberships x 10
BCA Snow Study Kits x 7
Guidebooks by Marcus Baranow "Confessions of a Ski Bum - Kicking Horse Pass" x 6 and "Confessions of a Ski Bum: The Icefields Parksway Lake Louise to Bow Summit" x 6
Avalanche Canada AvCan logoed gogglesocs
The North Face Men's and Women's Dryzzle Futurelight Jackets
Men's Dunraven 1/4 Zip Fleece / Women's Dunraven Sherpa Crop Jacket
MEC $25 Gift Certificates x 8
Herschel Supply Co. Heritage backpacks x 4 and Novel duffle bags x 4
The Fine Print
Mont Everest South Col Route
To see this more on this route: 
Contact information
- Event contact
- Michele Dauphinee
- acf@avalanche.ca
- Phone
- 403-880-5527
