The words I Will are appearing all over Nelson.
They are on the scrolling sign leading into Chahko Mika Mall and T-shirts in the window of Valhalla Pure Outfitters.
I Will is in a sense a promise made by skiers and snowboarders to wear a helmet.
The campaign was launched by friends of Selkirk College student Will Schooler, who died after a head injury he received after falling while riding a hand rail on his skis.
Schooler was up at the Tenth Street Campus with his friend Andrew Helton on November 25.
"It was just me and him riding the rail," said Helton. "It wasn't even that bad of a fall really."
Schooler slid out and fell down the stairs and seemed to be OK despite his shoulder popping out of its socket.
"He was laying on his back and popped off his skis," said Helton. "He's got a really bad shoulder and he put it back in. He was all good and I think we hit the rail I think three more times just slower and a bit differently."
Eventually the pair decided to call it a day and started to walk back to their cars.
On the walk back, Schooler mentioned to Helton that he thought he may have hit his head.
"I checked him out. I shined on to his pupils and they were dilating," said Helton. "He was talking normally. I asked him what he had for breakfast and what he was doing tomorrow and all that. We checked his balance. I think we did that for four hours."
Helton said that Schooler's roommate found him on the floor between his bedroom and the bathroom.
He had thrown up and was starting to go into a coma.
"I got woken up saying that he was in the hospital and they were asking me if he'd hit his ribs or stomach because there was some blood," he said. "I was super surprised and by the time I'd gotten ready and called they were getting the ambulance ready to fly him to Kelowna. I didn't really get to see him in the hospital. He was just gone all of a sudden."
It was later confirmed by acting regional coroner Chico Newell, that Schooler died from a blunt force head trauma, something Helton believes could have been prevented had Schooler been wearing a helmet.
Schooler typically wore a helmet whenever he was skiing but Helton said on that day he forgot.
"He didn't really fall until that one crash," he said. "Nothing really happened leading up to it that would make him think 'Whoa I should really go grab my helmet.' Sometimes it is as much as forgetting. You do one run with just your goggles on and no helmet because you were just messing around and you go up the chair lift and it's on that one run that something stupid can happen."
The I Will campaign is promoting helmet use by all skiers and snowboarders.
Helton believes it's challenging to enforce helmet use when aspiring riders see professionals in movies like All.I.Can (which features an urban skiing segment) performing tricks without helmets.
"We were watching ski movies this year and some of the premiers with Will. We started noticing after and saw that there were maybe one or two segments where a skier or snowboarder wears a helmet during the entire segment. Most of them are doing triple cork, going upside down three times, or hitting huge rails wearing no helmet," said Helton.
Even though the snowboarders and skiers may be landing the tricks in the movie, there is often reels of tape where they fall.
"It's becoming cool not to [wear a helmet]," said Helton. "To be that good that you don't have to wear one. This is why it's a huge thing because Will was never like that. He literally forgot his helmet and his poles and it was the only time I saw him ski without. He would never hit an urban rail without. He just forgot it."
The campaign is hoping through word of mouth along with features in Freeskier Magazine and a movie with Retallack cat skiing and Ingrid Backstrom, helmet use will become instinctual and will combat the negative press the sport has received in the wake of Schoolers accident and ones like it.
ESPN.com published an article by John Symms following Schoolers death warning of the dangers of urban sking.
"Schooler's death raises awareness of the dangers of urban skiing. Skiers are well aware of the risks inherent in backcountry skiing, but urban and terrain park skiing, devoid of unpredictable environmental dangers such as avalanches, are generally considered safer than backcountry skiing," wrote Symms.
Helton acknowledges the risk involved in urban skiing but believes wearing a helmet helps minimize some of the risk involved.
"CBC Calgary did something from Edmonton as well," said Helton. "They were talking about banning [urban skiing] and talking about whether the city should be banning it. That muddies it so much as well. It's a simply safety factor that people should be taking. It was directly a head injury that 90 per cent could have been prevented by wearing a helmet. It wasn't because of a skill ability or that he was doing something reckless or endangering somebody else."
Helton said that those who practice urban skiing take risk into their hands and that wearing a helmet helps elimiate some of it.
"People talking about chaining up more rails and putting more studs on rails so people can't hit them, it's not going to stop it and if anything it makes it harder for us to do what we love to do. It's not going to stop, I can guarantee that," he said.
The I Will campaign is selling shirts to raise money for a scholarship fund at Selkirk College in Schooler's name.
The group is also selling I Will stickers around town to support Schooler's family in what ever way they can.