The Avalanche Hour Podcast

Tune in for candid stories and a humorous take on the roots of Canadian avalanche work. Bruce Jamieson is joined by Larry Stanier to interview Roddy McGowan.
Roddy McGowan is a veteran Canadian mountain guide and avalanche professional who carved out his career the hard way, starting as a ski bum in Whistler in the late 1970s before working his way onto ski patrol at Lake Louise and into the renowned avalanche program at Rogers Pass. Known for his persistence, he failed multiple guiding courses before eventually earning his credentials and going on to guide, and complete major ski traverses across western Canada. Over decades in the mountains, he combined hands-on experience while collecting a lifetime of stories—from early dirtbag winters to serious close calls that shaped his perspective on risk and decision-making. Now retired from guiding and living in Japan, Roddy stays connected to the mountains, still observing snow and reflecting - often with wit - on a career in the mountains.
Larry has worked in the avalanche patch since 1982, beginning his career as a ski patroller in the early years at Blackcomb ski area. He started ski guiding in 1986 and is a long standing IFMGA Mountain Guide, working all over the world from Kyrgyzstan to the Japanese Alps. He also then worked for many years in the avalanche consulting business for Chris Stethem and Associates, and for over 20 years taught courses for the Canadian Avalanche Association. Larry has also conducted inspections of helicopter and snow cat skiing operations for Helicat Canada and HeliskiUS.
This episode contains lessons on how avalanche safety knowledge developed through experience, mentorship, mistakes, and reflection—not just formal science

​Tune in to hear stories from the Canadian avalanche industry of the 80s and 90s - including Blackcomb and Rogers.
​Roddy McGowan reflects candidly on the “human factors” leading to a significant avalanche burial of a snowcat.
​The development of avalanche science and standards under the rigorous leadership of Fred and Walter Schleiss at Rogers Pass.
​Stories from ski traverses with minimal equipment by modern standards, and the ensuing adventures.

Thanks to the sponsors of the show.

Episode Sponsor:
⁠Propagation Labs⁠

Legacy Sponsors:
Darren Johnson Avalanche Education Memorial Fund
AVSS
Drone Amplified

Partner Sponsors:
CIL Avalanche
Safeback
onX Backcountry Use the code avalanchehour to receive 30% off a year of onX Backcountry Elite or Premium

Music: Ketsa
Artwork: Mike Tea
Production: Angie Lake

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Episode Summary:
- A conversation with Drone Amplified, the team introduces Montis, a drone-based system designed to deliver explosives remotely with greater precision and safety. 
- The episode traces the history of avalanche mitigation, from early explosive use in 1939 to modern tools aimed at reducing human exposure.
- Technology evolved from wildland firefighting and what makes its electronic ignition system a significant advancement.
- A forward-looking perspective on how emerging technologies like drones may reshape the industry in the years ahead
In this episode of The Avalanche Hour Podcast, host Caleb Merrill sits down with the team at Drone Amplified for a conversation rooted around a single question: how can the avalanche industry continue to use effective avalanche mitigation strategies while reducing the significant hazard exposure for avalanche workers? They explore the evolution of avalanche control technology and introduce Montis, a drone-based system designed to deliver explosives remotely with increased precision and safety.
You will hear how this technology originated in wildland firefighting, the advantages of electronic ignition systems, and what makes drone deployment a potential game changer for reducing worker exposure. The episode also examines how these tools could fit into existing avalanche mitigation strategies and what their growing presence signals about the future of the field.
This episode offers both a grounded look at the realities of avalanche work today and a forward-looking perspective on how emerging technologies like drones may reshape the industry in the years ahead.

A huge thank you to Drone Amplified for being a Legacy Sponsor of the podcast this season. We couldn’t keep the lights on without them! 

Resources from the Episode: 
Check out Drone Amplified’s homepage here
Check out a video on their technology, Montis

Music: Ketsa
Artwork: Mike Tea 
Production: Caleb Merrill, Angie Lake

In this episode of The Avalanche Hour, Caleb Merrill makes another appearance to sit down with Mark Staples, director of the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center, and avalanche researcher/educator Bruce Jamieson. The group discuss heavyweight topics in the avalanche industry such as snow-surface energy exchange, near-surface faceting, and communicating avalanche hazard. 

Staples recounts his path from powder skiing to avalanche work, his research on snow-surface energy balance, and his experience connecting with varied user groups. Jamieson describes collaborating with Staples on educational videos and credits Karl Birkeland’s 1998 papers for focusing attention on near-surface faceting. Staples also contrasts surface hoar (vapor deposition) with near-surface facets (metamorphism of existing snow grains), and they cover conditions that promote growth, including cooling to a clear sky and relative humidity. The conversation also explores simplifying avalanche problem types, terrain-based risk management, the public’s interest in science, and learning from accidents. 

Thanks to the sponsors of the show!
Legacy Sponsors:
Darren Johnson Avalanche Education Memorial Fund
AVSS
Drone Amplified

Partner Sponsors:
CIL Avalanche
Safeback
onX Backcountry

Episode Sponsor:
Arva

Music: Ketsa
Artwork: Mike Tea 
Production: Caleb Merrill, Bob Keating

Join us for our sixth installment of Slabs ‘n Sluff with  your hosts Sara Boilen and Dom Baker! Sara and Dom discuss the joy of powder turns in low hazard terrain, slope tests on small features and the upcoming spring skiing season.  They also review recent episodes from March and take a look at what is coming up for April on the Avalanche Hour Podcast. Tune in to hear from the ISSW 2026 organizing committee about everything to look forward to from Whistler next fall.  
Sara Boilen holds a doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Denver (2011). Professionally, she works with individuals who have had interactions with the justice system often in the spirit of helping to make sense of behavior and context. She has taken her professional interests and merged it with her recreational interests to contribute to the field of avalanche sciences in her free time. She is specifically interested in human-related problems and solutions. Dr. Boilen has presented at seven Snow and Avalanche Workshops and at ISSW in Norway. She has written articles for The Avalanche Review and was a co-author on the recently proposed conceptual framework for human factors in avalanche terrain. She lives in Northwest Montana and will carry dessert for you to the top of any mountain her skills will take her to.
Dom Baker is an avalanche technician with the BC Ministry of Transportation at Kootenay Pass, occasional avalanche course instructor and adventure buddy to his kids.  
Episode Summary:
- Sara and Dom discuss winter weather patterns, adapting to rapidly changing ski conditions, and look ahead to spring
- Review of the last month of programming, highlighting interviews that captured the hosts imagination or got us thinking
- Safely poking around on small features to build a better picture of the avalanche hazard
- The ISSW 2026 organizing committee drop by for a chat
- A voicemail from a listener.

Thanks to the sponsors of the show.
Legacy Sponsors:
Darren Johnson Avalanche Education Memorial Fund
AVSS
Drone Amplified

Partner Sponsors:
CIL Avalanche
Safeback
onX Backcountry

Music: Ketsa
Artwork: Mike Tea 
Production: Dom Baker, Bob Keating

Summary of the Conversation: 
-Exploring the societal pressures as human factor on professional athletes
-Sasha shares how she balances decision making in the backcountry with a very mindful approach inclusive of her nervous system
-Sasha cracks the code on the best Human Factor Hack; creating mindful presence in a meditative, naturalist inquisitive approach to the mountains.
-Sasha talks about the preventative nature of choosing backcountry partners by engaging in conversations that share each others unique stress signatures and what each partner needs in high risk scenarios.  

Sasha is a professional skier and meditation teacher, and the founder and director of Mountain Mind Project. She has spent her lifetime training her mind and body. Sasha has competed at the highest level of skiing and mountain biking, winning the Freeskiing World Tour and competing on the Freeride World Tour and Enduro World Series. In high school, she was invited to travel with the National Development System and race internationally in the recruitment pipeline for the U.S. Ski Team. She’s always loved the mental game. 

Her meditation practice grew out of her time as a competitive athlete. Sasha saw – in herself and those she loved – how accidents, trauma and life’s load can compound over a career. During years of illness and chronic pain, Sasha became a qualified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Teacher by the UCSD School of Medicine MBPTI.

Sasha’s style of meditation is to engage fully within the inherent risk of life, refined from her time spent in the inherent risk environment of mountains. Her mission is to normalize that the health in mental health can be cultivated – through deep relationship to self, others and the natural world from meditation practice.  

Sasha is the daughter and granddaughter of Vietnam war refugees and keeps one foot planted in the Mountain West of the U.S. and the other in the Mekong of Vietnam.

Thanks to the sponsors of the show.
Legacy Sponsors:
Darren Johnson Avalanche Education Memorial Fund
AVSS
Drone Amplified

Partner Sponsors:
CIL Avalanche
Safeback
onX Backcountry

Episode Sponsor:
OpenSnow

Music: Ketsa
Artwork: Mike Tea 
Production: Caleb Merrill, Bob Keating