Travis Steeger Memorial Fund and Columbia Basin Trust Make Big Donation to the KCA

The Kootenay Climbing Association has received a huge boost with large donations in the past month from Armada Skis and the Columbia Basin Trust.

Armada Skis and the family of the late Travis Steeger have contributed $35,000 to the project from the Travis Steeger Memorial Fund. Travis Steeger was a young up and coming skier whose life was tragically cut short 5 years ago, when killed by a drunk driver on his 19th birthday. Armada developed the TST ski with input from Travis, and a portion of the proceeds from the sale of each pair are donated to the Travis Steeger Memorial Fund.

Travis was an extremely active and outgoing young man who just loved “catching air”, whether at the ski hill, on the trampoline, mountain bike, diving, and bouldering. He was very comfortable in the air and would take every opportunity to practice. Both Travis and his brother Dustin benefitted from climbing instruction, as did so many of their peers. The family (Chris, Marlene and Dustin) want to support a local group that will continue to provide these types of opportunities. “Travis would 100% approve of the climbing gym as an initiative worth supporting to help build skills, confidence and camaraderie among local youth,” stated Marlene.

A key focus of the Kootenay Climbing Association will be to provide programming and opportunities for youth. Our vision is to create a social and recreational space that celebrates the mountain lifestyle. “We are honored and extremely grateful to the family and Armada for this very generous contribution” stated KCA president Shawn Tasker.

The Columbia Basin Trust also contributed $20,000 to the project through their Community Development Program. The support from CBT underlines the amount of community support that is behind the project. The climbing gym will be located within the Mary Hall gymnasium, which is owned by the City of Nelson and leased to Selkirk College, and the KCA is fortunate to be able to work with the College to provide this opportunity to the community. The KCA has also confirmed corporate support from Valhalla Pure Outfitters, the Nelson District Credit Union, the Kootenay Co-op, Whitewater Ski Resort, Summit Mountain Guides, NRG and Queen City Charters. Another 67 individuals, families or businesses have signed on as ‘wallbuilders’ with a $500 donation. The Osprey Foundation, the City of Nelson, Regional Districts E, H, & G, have also contributed to the project. To date we have raised over $132,000 for the project, exceeding our initial goal of $120,000.

“We have just completed the engineering design and the next step will be to develop a detailed construction budget and schedule, and start sourcing materials. We are excited about the potential to use local materials for a large portion of the build,” Scott Jeffery, KCA’s design lead said. “Project construction is expected to start this spring”. Conceptual images of the gym will be posted on our website: (www.kootenayclimbing.com) shortly. We will also be presenting the design at our AGM on Thursday February 27th.

The Kootenay Climbing Association is a non-profit society with the mandate of developing and operating an indoor climbing wall in the Kootenays. For more information on the Kootenay Climbing Association visit: kootenayclimbing.com