Ken

avalanche forecaster · explosives technician · mountain person

Ken is an avalanche forecaster and explosives technician for a regional avalanche control program in the Canadian Rockies. Long before sunrise on most workdays, he skis into the backcountry with a partner and a backpack of dynamite to intentionally trigger avalanches above ski resorts and mountain highways before they trigger themselves. He is methodical, quiet, deeply reverent of the mountain, and contentedly married, though the trying-for-a-baby year has been quietly heavier than he says.