Talking Avalanches with Nikki Champion: Ep. 36

On this episode, I chat with Utah Avalanche Center forecaster and mountain guide Nikki Champion about her background, what it’s like being a woman in snow science, her favorite mountain adventures and her advice for people who want to get into backcountry skiing. We also discuss how technology has changed the backcountry skiing game, how it can help us stay safer or make more informed decisions, and how it can lead us to take more risks. The fastest-growing segment of the skiing market is backcountry. With more participation, we’re seeing unprecedented numbers of avalanche-related incidents. For forecasters, this means greater demands on frequency of observations, duration of the season they’re covering, and geography they’re reporting on. The opportunities for avalanche centers are bottomless—the funding, however, is not. In November, onX Backcountry is donating $10 of every membership to support forecasting. By leveraging their Slope Angle and Avalanche Forecast layers you’ll have access to the tools that help inform safer backcountry travel this year. Sign up here: https://webmap.onxmaps.com/backcountry/purchase/membership?promo=caroline20 Check out the Know Before you go program here: https://kbyg.org/