On Saturday December 11, at 1:00 PM, representatives from Avant Ski Company will be at the local train depot in Tupper Lake, NY, where they plan to announce their desire to relocate their company to the Tupper Lake community. You may be asking yourself, why would Avant want to move into a small town plagued by a struggling economy? Well, read on my friends.

Tupper Lake is home to Big Tupper Ski Resort, childhood mountain to the Gaffney brothers, and also to Avant co-founders Ben Callaghan and Joel Nashett. The mountain was closed for years due to the previous owner being forced into bankruptcy; now, things are about to change. And here's where this story gets exciting.

A development has been proposed that would re-open the mountain and turn it into a world-class 4-season resort, complete with slope side condos, state of the art snowmaking, fancy lifts, etc. This past year, to get the ball rolling, the local community rallied and re-opened the mountain themselves; it was an operation fueled entirely by volunteers. On account of uplifted spirits and some fluffy white stuff, the season rocked.

Building on last year's success, Avant is collaborating with ARISE (Adirondack Residents Intent on Saving Their Economy) and the ACR (Adirondack Club and Resort of Tupper Lake) this year in an attempt to put this aforementioned development fully into play. Avant formed an alliance with these two groups to produce an initial line of limited edition Big Tupper Commemorative Skis for the 2010 season. This deal is entirely unique; along with the skis come embedded 5-year and lifetime passes to Big Tupper. The proceeds benefit Big Tupper directly.

Avant hopes to re-locate their operation to the slopeside of Big Tupper. There, they would build a research and development center, a tourable factory and a "Mountain Lab" where people can experience the production of skis first hand. One might have the opportunity to even test skis the very same day they are produced. Avant’s move would be a big step in becoming competitive in the global snow-sport industry.

The collective efforts of Avant (Callaghan and Nashett in particular, who seek to preserve their old stomping grounds) and the local Tupper Lake community can serve as a source of inspiration to us all. Thanks to this joint endeavor (and with a bit of luck) the economy and the future of alpine skiing in Tupper Lake look to be back on track.

Click here to read a press release about the announcement on Saturday. Also, be sure to follow along with this unfolding story by liking Avant and Big Tupper on Facebook and following Avant and Big Tupper on Twitter.