Anne St. Clair, a PhD candidate with Simon Fraser University’s Avalanche Research Program (SARP), was recently honoured as an Avalanche Diva at ISSW 2023 in Bend, Oregon. Here is what the Avalanche Divas had to say about Anne:
Anne is an avalanche educator, forecaster, and social science researcher who supports projects that strengthen knowledge, communication, and governance systems for natural hazards. She has 15 years of cumulative experience working in various teaching, ski guiding, and forecasting roles, which she has combined with academic expertise in Anthropology, Sociology, and Resource and Environmental Management. Anne currently works as a professor with Alaska Pacific University’s Outdoor Studies program and as a Pro and Instructor trainer for AIARE, while continuing her research with the SFU avalanche research program as a PhD student. For her research, she aims to better understand the risk management challenges faced by mountain communities, particularly in remote, under-served areas that are at greater risk to the effects of climate change. Through community-led research collaborations, she is eager to support an improved collective understanding of mountain knowledge systems and contribute to more targeted, equitable, and effective avalanche risk reduction strategies.
Anne completed her masters degree at SARP in 2019. Her research looked at how backcountry recreationists use avalanche forecasts and led to the creation of an avalanche bulletin user typology. She is an instructor for the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education and worked as a forecaster for Avalanche Canada. She is currently a visiting professor for Alaska Pacific University’s Outdoor Studies program while she works on completing her PhD.
Avalanche Divas is a non-profit organization that honours outstanding female-identifying avalanche professionals, and creates spaces for connection and networking.