Kevin Wright
Director
kevin@chugachavalanche.org

Kevin is a born and raised Alaskan. He got hooked on skiing the Chugach backcountry in the early 1990s. Educated at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, he mentored under the avalanche program at Alyeska Resort before joining the CNFAIC in 2010. His maritime snow experience includes 10 winters of professional avalanche work around Girdwood. High altitude and continental snow experience includes over 25 climbing trips (and a cumulative year of his life) in the Alaska Range. He has skied in Washington, Utah, Wyoming, Alaska, Argentina, and New Zealand. Kevin spends summers as a Mountaineering Ranger doing high altitude search and rescue work in Denali National Park. Extras - Avalanche level 3, 105mm howitzer gunner, EMT, professional member of the American Avalanche Association. .


Wendy Wagner
Forecaster
wendy@chugachavalanche.org

Wendy comes to us from the Wasatch mountains of Utah where she was mentored under the Utah Avalanche Center. The past few years she has been working as a snow researcher, avalanche instructor and observer. She has a Master’s in atmospheric sciences (with an emphasis in mountain weather and snow science) from the University of Utah and has presented papers at ISSW and the Mountain Meteorological Conference. Wendy spent time in Anchorage during her first career as a US Ski Team Nordic athlete and is a two time Olympian (2002 and 2006). Spare time is spent skiing powder and geeking out over snow grains.


Graham Predeger
Recreation operations/ forecaster-in-training
gpredeger@fs.fed.us

Graham Predeger was born and raised in Anchorage. He began skiing the Chugach backcountry in high school as a naive teenager, and migrated to the Vail Valley after receiving a BS degree from CSU. He spent eight seasons working in Colorado as a USFS backcountry snow ranger on Vail Pass. During this tenure, Graham absorbed all the information he could regarding snow and avalanches thru formal classes and practical experiences. Graham is ecstatic to come home to Alaska and will be working as a forecaster-in-training this season along with providing for an array of winter recreational opportunities on the Glacier Ranger District. A goal for Graham is to further involve and engage the motorized community in their local avalanche center! Spare time is spent sled-skiing, mountain biking and kayaking-depending on the season





Alex Mclain
Summit lake and Seward District forecaster
amclain@fs.fed.us

Alex McLain was raised in New Hampshire and started backcountry skiing and mountaineering in the late 80's. He worked for the White Mountain NF as a trail ranger, several ski areas as a ski patroller, and was a member of several rescue teams and ambulance services. While in NH he assisted in numerous backcountry rescues in the White Mountain National Forest. In 2006, he moved to Seward, AK working for the USFS managing campgrounds and working with the winter program on the Seward Ranger District expanding the CNFAIC to include the Summit Lake Area.





Jeff Nissman
Honorary Forecaster

Jeff was killed in a roof avalanche in 2004 in Portage Valley while working for CNFAIC. Jeff helped Skustad in the early years of the avalanche center as a forecaster. Jeff's love and spirit for the mountains can be felt above tree line in Turnagain Pass most every day. Jeff developed the first avalanche website for the Avalanche Center and this new site is dedicated to his memory. The primary fundraiser for the Friends of the CNFAIC is named in his honor - The Jeff Nissman Memorial Telepalooza Telemark Festival and is held each spring at Alyeska Resort.

Lisa Portune
Former Forecaster







Matt Murphy
Former Forecaster







Carl Skustad
Founder and Former Director