Resources
Human Performance in Mountain Safety contexts
The following resources focus on human performance that goes beyond motivation and compliance.
These resources are informed by Cognitive Systems Engineering, Systems thinking, human factors, human centered design, Naturalistic Decision Making, and Resilience Engineering - fields that are dedicated to empirical studies on the conditions that shape decision-making.
Videos
Canadian Avalanche Association Virtual Spring Session
Error, Performance, and Staying Safe in avalanche terrain
Northwest Avalanche Center Snow & Avalanche Workshop
Podcasts
The nuances of navigating complex terrian - Utah Avalanche Center Podcast
Posters
Laura Maguire (2018), NOLS Wilderness Risk Management Conference
Resilience Engineering meets Outdoor Risk Management
Morgan Reynold (2018), NOLS Wilderness Risk Management Conference
Papers
Maguire, Johnston-Bloom & Latosuo (2023)
Decision-making systems in early stage backountry skiers and snowboarders
Ryan Butler (2021)
What Affects Your Decision Making - The Avalanche Review
Laura Maguire (2019)
Eeva Latosuo & Aleph Johnston-Bloom (2019)
Start making sense: Cognitive work in avalanche forecasting - Canadian Avalanche Association blog Maguire & Percival (2019)
Maguire & Percival (2018)
Maguire (2014)
Sites we love
The Avalanche Review archive - Back issues of the American Avalanche Association's magazine which was so expertly edited by Lynn Wolfe for many years. We look forward to Allie Miles bringing her perspective to the publication!
SFU Avalanche Research Program - Despite Pascal Haegli moving on, we are confident the SFU Avalanche Research Program will continue to push the boundaries of innovation and look forward to where the program goes next.
Drew Hardesty personal blog - Utah Avalanche Center forecaster muses on life in the snowpack
Wayne Flann personal blog - Wayne passed away in 2023 but Whistler maintains the archived site. This was such an impactful blog for many forecasters in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.
Stan Nowak personal webpage - Stan has been doing incredibly innovative work in visualizations for avalanche professionals. His work supports recognizing and making sense of uncertainty.
The Avalanche Hour podcast - Caleb Merril and his team have done an incredible job capturing the voices of the avalanche community. Support their work by making a donation!
KBYG - Know Before You Go - has been bringing innovative programming promoting public avalanche safety education and awareness since 2004.
The Responder Alliance - Provides important psychological first aid for traumatic mountain incidents.
Incident Investigations
Systemic Accident Investigations see the contributing factors across individuals, teams, organizations, and external influences to more precisely target the issues that impact performance and risk management.
So you've been asked to lead an investigation...
Prepare yourself to investigate an incident in your workspace.
What is data collection during incident investigations.
The data you collect will help you tell a comprehensive story. Here's an overview of what to look at to make sense of what happened.
Systemic Accident Investigations 101
A high level overview of how to take a systems view of contributing factors in mountain safety accidents.
Psychological Safety and Incident Investigations
Something went wrong. People feel responsible. Here's how to create psychological safety for those involved and those impacted to have the most constructive incident investigation possible.