Backcountry Travel, Snow Science, & the Art of Avalanche Forecasting

BLISTER Podcast

BLISTER

Wilderness, Bike, Gear, Snowboard, Outdoor, Sports, Ski, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 560 Ratings

🗓️ 1 February 2021

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today we’re talking about the science of snow, the art of avalanche forecasting, and what every backcountry traveler can be sending in to their local avy center to help them produce more accurate forecasts.

Our guest is Zach Guy, who is the lead forecaster for the Crested Butte Avalanche Center. Zach has a master’s degree in snow science from Montana State University, he’s served as the director of the Flathead Avalanche Center in Northwest Montana; and he returned to Crested Butte in the fall of 2020 to take over as the CBAC’s lead forecaster.

TOPICS & TIMES

Zach’s background in forecasting & snow science (5:40)
Some different snowpacks in the USA (13:29)
Different snowpacks in Colorado (16:50)
How has avalanche forecasting evolved? (20:08)
How has snow science evolved? (22:35)
Inconsistencies between forecast centers (26:43)
Snowpack modeling (34:41)
Fracture mechanics (46:44)
Zach’s forecasting process (49:52)
What we all can / should submit to avy centers (57:39)
Life & schedule of a forecaster (1:03:29)

RELATED LINKS: BACKCOUNTRY TRAVEL

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey everybody and welcome to the Blister podcast. I'm Jonathan Ellsworth and today we are talking
0:08.1	about the science of snow, the art of avalanche forecasting, and what every backcountry
0:15.0	traveler can be submitting to your local Avey Center that will enable more accurate forecasts regardless of
0:23.3	how much you yourself happen to know about snow science.
0:28.3	Now, joining us today is Zach Guy, who is the lead forecaster for the Crested Butte Avalanche
0:34.3	Center.
0:35.5	Zach started Avey forecasting for the CBAC and Irwin Guides back in 2011 after finishing
0:43.0	his master's degree in snow science at Montana State University.
0:47.8	He then left Crested Butte Butteau for a few years to go direct the Flathead Avalanche
0:53.0	Center in northwest Montana, but then our
0:56.2	prodigal son returned to the Gunnison Valley and the Crested Butte Avalanche Center in the fall of
1:02.0	2020 to take over as the CBAC's lead forecaster. A few days ago, Zach and I sat down in
1:09.9	Blister HQ here in Mount Crested Butte to talk about how he got into snow science and avie forecasting.
1:17.9	Why forecasting is still very much an art.
1:22.1	Yes, that does take into account snow science, but the forecasting itself still an art. We talk about how both forecasting
1:30.6	and snow science have evolved. We talk about Zach's own forecasting process and what the life
1:38.4	and the schedule of a forecaster looks like. And then importantly, which I mentioned at the top, Zach talks about
1:46.4	what each of us can be submitting to our local Avey centers that can really help produce more
1:52.8	accurate forecasts. So for a whole bunch of reasons, this was a really good conversation
1:58.5	that I think will offer some valuable takeaways. So I hope you enjoy it and I hope you find it beneficial.
2:06.9	Now, before we get started, I want to remind you that our very first ever Blister Summit is kicking off on February 18th, and I'm very happy to report that we've been getting good
2:19.3	snow here in Crested Butte, and it's looking like we're going to be picking up a good bit more
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BLISTER, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BLISTER and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.