Graham Zell

Avalanche Technician

Graham grew up in Prince George, BC, as a skier, hiker, and reader. His family was active in Scouts Canada as he was growing up, and he enjoyed canoeing and camping. He attended Brentwood starting in grade 10 and took sailing, theater tech, and piano, played plenty of video games with Privett House over the LAN, and got in trouble for building a potato cannon. He performed in Java Hut and spoke as his class's valedictorian.

After graduation in 2006, he attended Queen's and graduated in 2010 with a degree in Engineering Physics and mild burnout. He moved back to Prince George to be close to family and worked as an engineer for three years before deciding to change career paths.

He took an advanced first aid course and started as a ski patroller at Sun Peaks for the 2013/14 winter season. The people he met on patrol encouraged him to pursue further training in the field to open up more possibilities, and he completed more training to enter the avalanche control industry. After two years at Sun Peaks he moved to Jasper, Alberta with his wife Maddy and worked at Marmot Basin as a ski patroller and avalanche technician, and earned his blasting ticket and more avalanche control credentials.

Avalanche control work involves assessing the mountain snow pack for hidden weaknesses, communicating with other operations in the immediate area to share information and second-guess judgement calls, accessing difficult to reach places to assess the weather, snow, and terrain, and setting off avalanches. Sometimes that means throwing rocks at the snow, sometimes it means throwing bombs, and sometimes it means stepping out on skis and literally jumping up and down on the snow to see if it will go anywhere. The science behind predicting avalanches is largely settled and hugely interesting, but learning about avalanches is only the first step to being good at a job in this industry: the psychology of decision making, nutrition and fitness, leadership, and weather and climate change are all vital to success and longevity in this industry.

Graham and Maddy moved to Kelowna in 2018 so Maddy could attend school, and Graham has been working for a hydroelectric company in Squamish since April 2018. He has recently left that position to focus on self-education and pursue some self-directed research projects, and work on improved self care in the face of challenges with anxiety and depression.