Humility in the Face of Historic Uncertainty: Becs Hodgetts

Sean Zimmerman-Wall steps in front of the mic to bring you another great interview with Rebecca “Becs” Hodgetts. Becs began ski patrolling in the mid-1990s on Mt Ruapehu, a volcano in the central plateau of New Zealand’s North Island. She went on to work at other resorts in New Zealand, Canada, and the US. She worked 12 years at Arapahoe Basin in Colorado, first as an avalanche technician and later as Assistant Ski Patrol Director. She joined the Colorado Avalanche Information Center in 2013 and worked first as a Backcountry, then as a Highway Forecaster, and finally as a Regional Lead Forecaster for southern Colorado. In July 2024, she took a new role with the US Forest Service's National Avalanche Center (NAC). In this role, she will support the NAC's mission to improve backcountry and ski area safety by reducing avalanche risk on and around National Forests. This mission includes training and transferring information and technology to the field, managing the Artillery for Avalanche Mitigation Program, and coordinating US avalanche centers through the National Avalanche Forecast Platform.

Show Notes:

March 2019 Historic Avalanche Cycle Video produced by CAIC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlkH-Mnzddc

Interview with CAIC Director Ethan Greene produced by The Powder Cloud

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YolFA80sP5Y

National Avalanche Center and Avalanche.org

https://avalanche.org/national-avalanche-center/

The Starting Zone by Karl Birkeland

https://support.friendsofcaic.org/products/the-starting-zone-at-the-interface-between-avalanche-science-and-practice?srsltid=AfmBOopaIynaGIjcEwbEhudjbTuCHTWlsHXgIFQf26ne3tfbgcABdFj-

Thanks to the sponsors of this episode:

Wyssen Avalanche Control

Gordini USA

OpenSnow

IPA Collective

Music by Age Diamante

Art by Mike Tea