Black Diamond Gear Donation

Hot on the heels of the UNB Rock and Ice donation of a key piece of rescue equipment, Ascent New Brunswick has received a second substantial donation.  This time from the renowned climbing gear company, Black Diamond!

As you may recall, Ascent New Brunswick committed to organizing a high-angle rescue team as part of its land use agreement with Base Gagetown. Part of the plan for this team is to provision a cache of rescue gear. As climbing and rescue gear is not cheap, this stood as a significant extra financial cost to Ascent.

With this in mind, local climber and Ascent member Mark d'Astous took it upon himself to reach out to his friend, the well-known Canadian ice climbing legend and Black Diamond athlete, Will Gadd, and to Holly Hansen at Black Diamond to appeal for a donation of gear to help out the team. Black Diamond came through big-time with a generous donation of well over $1000 worth of gear, including harnesses, helmets, belay devices, carabiners, head lamps and back packs! The gear will provide the base of the gear cache, ensuring that no matter where rescuers are when they receive the call to aid, there will be gear ready for their use waiting in the gear cache in Welsford. This will help minimize the time needed to arrive equipped and ready to perform a rescue.

So a big thank you to Black Diamond for recognizing the value in our rescue team and in supporting the Ascent New Brunswick mission! Thanks must also go individually to Mark, Will, and Holly for their help in making this donation a reality. You guys rock!