Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/112497
pro���le: Grant Statham The policy wonk who loves the mountains ��� No computer can predict an avalanche. Nor can technology help when you���re standing at 9,200 feet in knee-deep snow and need to make a decision, fast. ���Grant Statham ��� 23 years ago when Grant Statham first skied into the backcountry, solitude was guaranteed. Not any more. ���Things are busy back there. Some weekends I pass 100 skiers and snowshoers in just one valley of Rogers Pass alone.��� Though provincial statistics are hard to come by, regional surveys tell the same story: backcountry recreation in B.C. is a growth phenomenon. Glacier National Park, for example, one of the province���s busiest backcountry ski destinations, has reported a 124 per cent increase in skiers for the past three years. In Revelstoke, snowmobile trail-pass sales increased by 25 per cent for the same period. Meanwhile, between 2010 and 2011, requests for avalanche forecasts from the Canadian Avalanche Association jumped by 20 per cent while sales of backcountry skis in North America doubled, and nearly 7,000 Canadians now sign up for introductory avalanche skills courses annually. Normally, this exodus into avalanche terrain would worry backcountry pros like Statham, who as Parks Canada���s mountain-risk specialist trains those who make the final decision to close highways when the ava- lanche risk climbs, and oversees recreationrelated hazards in Canada���s national mountain parks, including B.C.���s Yoho, Kootenay, Glacier and Revelstoke. But now, most are more prepared than ever thanks to dramatic changes in the way snow conditions are forecast and communicated, a seismic shift attributed to just one man. ���Grant Statham is the key player for all of our big snowsafety projects,��� says Ian Tomm, executive director of the Canadian Avalanche Centre ��� ���projects that have overhauled how we communicate avalanche hazards.��� Statham, who spends half his days consulting on safety issues or working on policy and systems, the other half training park staff or freelance-guiding in the mountains, appreciates first-hand the policies he drafts. ���I may work on policy and systems, but I���m not a classic policy wonk because I���m also a guide��� ��� and a great one, according to Tomm, USING A TWITTER-ESQUE STYLE, with key messages presented graphically, backcountry safety maverick Grant Statham (pictured) has revolutionized the way cross-country skiers, snowmobilers, snowshoers and other winter adventurers tap into the latest avalanche conditions in B.C.���s national parks. The result: Lives are being saved and avalanche forecasters worldwide are latching onto Statham���s game-changing ideas. (snow fracture) Grant Statham, (Statham, top-of-the-mountain) Doug Mantle, (Statham, hard climbing) Andrew Querner p20-23_Profile.indd 21 WESTWORLD >> W I N T E R 2 0 1 2 21 12-10-26 7:32 AM