Checking in With the Utah Avalanche Center's New Leaders

The Utah Avalanche Center (UAC) recently announced leadership changes in both the Forest Service and Nonprofit groups.

For context, the Forest Service began years before the UAC, but it quickly became apparent that the funding from the Forest Service wasn't going to be able to keep pace with the needs of the Forest Service center. The UAC was started in 1980 when the Forest Service and the National Weather Service (NWS) established the Utah Avalanche forecast center at the NWS office in Salt Lake.

Long story short: one wouldn't exist without the other, and the groups now work together to make sure that their forecast product (what us skiers use in the backcountry) is the best it can be and is communicated to skiers effectively.

At the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center, a major transition occurred on May 5th, 2024 when Paige Pagnucco replaced Mark Staples as their new director. Staples had successfully led the team for nine seasons.

Paige Pagnucco brings over 30 years of experience to her new role as Director. This is not Pagnucco's first role at the Nonprofit Utah Avalanche Center, as she has been working at the organization for 19 years, most recently as Program Director. Throughout this time, she also worked as a backcountry avalanche forecaster and highway avalanche forecaster for the Utah Department of Transportation.

Pagnucco began her snow and avalanche career as a professional ski patroller at Park City Mountain Resort where she worked as a route leader and avalanche educator. She also participated in the resort's avalanche rescue dog program as a handler.

The Nonprofit Utah Avalanche Center also implemented a new Executive Director as of June 10th, 2024, when Caroline Miller took over for Chad Brackelsberg.

Miller will concentrate on avalanche awareness and education, fundraising, partner development, strategy, communications, and financial accounting. Her career in ski industry risk management took off when she was named as the Risk Manager, and then Director of Mountain Operations, for Kirkwood Mountain Resort, California.

According to the UAC's website , "Caroline left Kirkwood to return to the nonprofit sector and spend more time in the backcountry. Since then, she has been consulting for nonprofits, including the Sierra Avalanche Center, and managing the development of a backcountry hut system in the Sierras. She is excited to return to Utah’s incredible terrain and join such a passionate, knowledgeable, and hardworking team."

We checked in with both new leaders to hear about the collaboration between the Forest Service and the UAC, what will look different under their leadership, and how their summers are going in their new positions so far.

Pagnucco explained that while both leaders have different goals, their overall interests are aligned. "We have our different goals in terms of programmatic goals, but our overall goal is the same. The forecast supports the nonprofit by drawing in donations and interest, and then the center helps support the Forest Service's work."

Miller echoed this sentiment that their dual-leadership may be more valuable than just one shift in leadership. Miller told POWDER that she is excited to work alongside Pagnucco because, "Paige has been at the organization for so long that she has seen every iteration of what successful leadership has looked like."

"For us now to be coming into this at the same time with compatible goals and also different goals is great. She's such a wealth of knowledge, and she's helped make the UAC so successful," Miller said.

Pagnucco explained that besides having a strong work ethic, she is also able to understand complex things by breaking them down into simpler, more digestible pieces. "Whether it's on the business side of things or on the snow side of things, the work that I've done prepared me to not be overwhelmed easily. I've been here long enough that I feel pretty calm and collected about the whole thing."

Pagnucco reported to POWDER that she has been spending the summer absorbing information and adjusting to the new role. However, this is made significantly easier due to the fact that she is already friends with the avalanche forecasters she is working with.

"I've been taking the time to reach out to the forecasters and see if we can make improvements, see what their personal goals are, what their professional goals are, and make sure everything is in alignment with our operating plan," Pagnucco said.

It is clear Pagnucco intimately understands the stress and responsibility of avalanche forecasting: after all, while ski patrolling may seem like a distant memory, she remembers the hard work.

She explained, "in our rural areas, where we have single forecasters, a lot gets asked of them because they never get a break. I'm hoping to make their lives easier by finding ways to give them time during the winter to take some time off, whether that's me coming in and taking over for them or having other assistant forecasters come in."

Right now, Caroline Miller sees herself doing much of the same. Miller told POWDER, "I see my role as the executive director to provide resources to the team and get out of their way. The role of any strong leader is to give people what they need and then make sure that they have the autonomy and space to do their jobs."

"As I start, the biggest thing is going to be learning. Learning as much as I can about our team on the nonprofit side, working with Paige to understand what the forecast team needs, and then also learning from the community that we serve."

For Miller, risk management has been the thread that has woven her career paths together. "It's something I am so excited and passionate about all the time. It's all about fostering decision making and asking, 'how do you help people sharpen the tools to make good decisions for them within their risk tolerances, within the data points that they have?'. Avalanche forecasting and education is not a one size, all one size fits all approach."

Both Miller and Pagnucco pointed to the fact that they have different, yet collaborative goals, as leaders. Pagnucco is focusing on reaching everyone who reads forecasts, not solely skiers. Miller shares that goal of wanting to expand outreach for the forecasts. "We're not just in the Salt Lake area. I want us to help people make good decisions no matter what they do or where they are."

In the end, perhaps a simple musing from Miller summed up the position of avalanche forecasting in both her and Pagnucco's jobs going forward. Their work is predictably challenging. "I don't think it'll always go smoothly, but I think it'll go well."

Related: NOAA's Seasonal Outlook for Winter '24/'25 Isn't Ideal

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