Andrew Kiefer is an Avalanche Specialist who began working for the Northwest Avalanche Center in 2018. Based in Bellingham, his primary focus is avalanche forecasting for the Cascades West, North Zone. Friend of NWAC, Ashlee Langholz sat down with Andrew to get to know him a little better. Andrew covers how he got his start as an avalanche professional, what brought him to Washington in 2018, and his reflections on his first winter working with the Avalanche Center.
Tell me about your path to NWAC.
“I had a pretty unique college experience where I could spend a lot of time in the field and interact with professionals in the snow and avalanche world. In turn, that allowed me to form some unique mentorships with some really interesting people who are guides, forecasters and educators. In a lot of ways, making connections with them led me to what I’m doing now and getting a foothold in this industry. As a college student, I interned with the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center and it opened my eyes to what this field is. It’s not the most straight forward profession to get into. I was really curious and the best way to learn is to jump in and meet people who do it. It’s not necessarily a step by step process. Ultimately everyone’s process is a little bit different to get to being a public backcountry avalanche forecaster. So, it started out with some interesting mentorships that led to working as a mountain guide throughout the western U.S. I’ve always been a skier and someone who’s passionate about the snow and the mountains. That led me to pursue bigger, snowier places in the western U.S. For the last 10 plus years, I’ve lived all over the western U.S: Colorado, Idaho, Montana, California, and Washington seeing a lot of different mountain ranges, seeing a lot of different snow climates, and ski guiding, mountain guiding, teaching avalanche classes, and then ultimately getting into avalanche forecasting by working with the USFS in Mount Shasta, California. That’s where I’m coming from most recently. I worked year round in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest as an avalanche forecaster for the Mount Shasta Avalanche Center in the winters and a climbing ranger in the summers.”
And, What drew you to NWAC?
“I’ve worked in Washington before, I’m familiar with this terrain, and I knew some of the people involved with NWAC. I’m also interested in the larger scale regional forecast side of the Avalanche Center. This region, the maritime climate and the Pacific Northwest are very attractive to me. I love the Cascades. I’ve worked with the Northwest Outward Bound school in Mazama and guided in Washington, mostly on Mount Rainier. The idea of a job that was based in Bellingham, that allowed me to forecast and be in the North Cascades, and work with a bigger, regional forecasting center was really appealing to me. I was psyched to come on board as things are changing and growing and developing.”
What do you hope to bring to NWAC?
“Honesty and transparency. There’s a human element here. We are professionals. We are good at our jobs, but we aren’t perfect. There’s a lot of uncertainty. Being open about the uncertainty is important. Our jobs aren’t necessarily to have all the answers all the time, our jobs are to provide as much information as we can, as accurately as we can, and to be willing to express uncertainty when it exists. It’s good to be confident but leaving the ego behind is something I’m pretty adamant about. I try to work hard, be humble, and recognize and define times when things aren’t so clear.”
Have you had any early observations of the Northwest snow community?
“I’ve already recognized how passionate and large the winter outdoor community is in this region. There are so many people going out into the mountains, a lot of whom have been doing so for along time. It’s been great getting to know the professional community of mountain guides and ski patrollers — the people who are out in the terrain and have been doing so for many, many years and have a really keen eye and really good local information. Hearing their experiences and checking in on a regular basis has been really exciting and meaningful.”
What about the Northwest snow?
“It was a wild start to the winter. It’s not like I’ve never seen massive storm events, but the one we had in early December was pretty spectacular. I think we got 100 plus inches of snow in 2 weeks. That might have been one of the biggest storm events I’ve seen. It was a nice welcome back.”
If you had a bumper sticker or short mantra in the backcountry, what would it be?
“Oh man, I don’t have a catchy one off the cuff here. More and more, I think about coming home safely. Risk comes to mind. How I act on the job and how I act off the clock, that behavior is aligning. I don’t act differently. My risk tolerance is the same. As I’m getting older and seeing more incidents happening, I’m recognizing how important it is to prioritize coming home at the end of the day. When I was younger, it was easier to prioritize an objective. More and more, I’m really valuing coming home at the end of the day.
So maybe the bumper sticker is, Come Home.
“Yeah, the big picture part of that is to remember the basics. When you start to take avalanche classes and learn more, you can think critically about what’s going on in the snow. But sometimes you can also overthink things, try to outsmart the instability, or convey the data in a way that meets your wants and desires. Don’t try to outsmart the instability. It always seems that remembering the basics is what keeps you alive in avalanche terrain. So maybe it’s: stick to the basics.”
Interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Interview by Ashlee Langholz. Follow Ashlee @ashleelangholz
