Core Values

Backcountry Access is a privately held company founded in 1994 by Bruce (“Bruno”) McGowan and Bruce (“Edge”) Edgerly. We currently have about 45 employees, not to mention our reps and distributors. Our headquarters is at Valmont and Foothills, in Boulder, Colorado, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. Like many innovative companies, we have humble beginnings (Bruno’s garage). At BCA, our mission is to save lives, not just pump products. As a leader in our industry, we need to be responsible about sending people into the backcountry. They need to be equipped not just with products, but with education. That’s why we’ve invested so much in research and education. We pride ourselves on being the “knowledge leaders” of our industry. A visit to our research page shows that we’ve been doing our homework. Developing products and saving lives must be grounded in research and reality. You’ll see that, like our products, our research challenges conventional wisdom about such issues as avalanche statistics, receive range, shoveling, and multiple burials. When we talk about “fresh tracks” and “fresh ideas,” we’re not just talking about skiing powder and developing products. We’re talking about our whole approach to snow safety, rooted in thorough research and placed in proper context with even more important things like education and knowledge.

Click here for an article about BCA’s mission to educate.