Chris Landry
Chris began his lifetime of snow experience with skiing at the age of four at Big Mountain, Montana.  High school and college ski racing eventually gave way to ski mountaineering and a few pioneering ski descents in North America.  Along the way, Chris pursued formal private instruction in avalanche safety from, and then began instructing for, the American Avalanche Institute, published the Snow Journal workbook for backcountry skiers and guides, and practiced as a private avalanche consultant/forecaster.  In 2002, Chris earned a MSc in the Department of Earth Sciences at Montana State University, where he researched the spatial variability of snow stability on uniform slopes.  Chris is currently the Executive Director of the Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies here in Silverton and is conducting research funded by the National Science Foundation regarding the effects of desert dust depositions on alpine snowpacks and hydrology.  Through this same funding, Chris is also hosting a sub-nivean biogeochemical research project, and is operating an extensive network of instrumentation on Red Mountain Pass.  Chris has instructed for Silverton Avalanche School Level II courses since arriving in Silverton in the winter of 2002-2003.

Andy Gleason

Andy began his avalanche education when he triggered, and was caught in an avalanche in 1984. Since then he has learned as much as he can about snow by getting a Masters Degree at Montana State University studying how terrain parameters affect avalanche frequency and pursuing his doctorate at the University of Wyoming studying bridging in the snowpack. He worked as an avalanche forecaster for the Colorado Avalanche Information Center in Silverton and Boulder, Colorado and as an avalanche forecaster at the Andina Mine in Chile. He has been a teacher for the Silverton Avalanche School since 1995. Currently he works as a researcher for the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at CU and as an avalanche consultant for Trautner Geotech in Durango, Colorado. He is the outgoing secretary and member of the research committee of the American Avalanche Association. When he’s not teaching, Andy likes to sled with his kids on any amount of snow.

Keith Roush
Keith Roush attended Montana State University, studying electrical engineering, film production and snow.  Working in the mountaineering and ski business since 1971, he has climbed, skied and guided on three continents.  He worked with Royal Robbins guiding in the San Juans since 1976 and developed the first Telemark ski boots with Galibier in France. Since 2002 he has been the proprietor of Pine Needle Mountaineering in Durango.  He was President of the Board of the Western Winter Sports Representatives Association, board member of the San Juan Mountains Association, Silverton Avalanche School instructor since 1984 and member of the La Plata County Search & Rescue Management Team since 1983.  He is presently a board member for the Center for Snow and Avalanche Science in Silverton.

Billy Rankin
Billy has been skiing the Colorado backcountry for 15 years.  He started his avalanche career as an Outward Bound instructor leading winter courses.  He worked at Irwin Lodge (outside of Crested Butte) as a snowcat ski guide.  He’s been teaching avalanche courses for CB Mtn Guides and AIARE.  Billy is a ski patroller at Crested Butte and is one of the avalanche forecasters at the Crested Butte Avalanche Center.

Josh Butson
Josh is the owner and lead guide/instructor for the San Juan Outdoor School/Telluride Alpinism and the executive director of The San Juan Field School’s Education Programs. He grew up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and was introduced to climbing, paddling, mountaineering, and skiing at a young age and continues to make a point of finding new places to explore.  He has had training and certification as a mountain guide through the (AMGA), (AIARE) Level I, Level II professional avalanche training and Level I instructor training courses, (AAA) Level I and II professional avalanche training, WFR, and CPR.

Mike Friedman
Mike was one of the founders of Telluride Helitrax and its lead avalanche forecaster from 1983-1996.  He has provided snow safety consultations to the Colorado Department of Transportation, Silverton and Durango Narrow Gauge Railroad, numerous local mining operations, County Road and Bridge Departments and Walt Disney Studios, among others.  In the summer he is a mountain guide in Grand Teton National Park.  He is a professional member of the AAA.

Ann Mellick
Ann’s curiosity about snow and avalanches began while learning to backcountry ski in the Tetons.  Ann has a B.A. in Environmental Education from Prescott College where she later taught Avalanche Forecasting for eight years.  She has also taught snow and avalanche courses at Sterling College and the Silverton Avalanche School. She has been a climbing and mountaineering guide for the last ten years most recently working for Sierra Mountaineering International. She also worked as an intern avalanche forecaster for the CAIC’s Silverton office, which forecasts and mitigates avalanches for the highway 550 corridor.

Karl "Skip" Zeller
Skip was raised in the Wyoming and Colorado Rockies.  He spends summers working construction and in the winters he works for Durango Mountain Resort as a full time ski patroller, a training co-coordinator, snow safety officer, and weather observer.  Additionally he is an instructor of ski patrolling, teaching avalanche beacon and probe use, full and hasty pit observations with records, and gathering and recording weather data.  He also works for San Juan Ski Co. where he is occasional operations manager, a lead guide, weather observer , and a route avalanche control for which he holds a current Colorado blasters license.

Alan Bernholtz
Alan has been teaching Avalanche courses for eighteen years.  He teaches Level I, II, III for AIARE and has worked as a mountain guide since 1990.  He has been certified by the AMGA in Ski Mountaineering since 1997.  Has also run the Crested Butte Mountain Guides since 1998.  He has worked as a heli guide in Valdez, AK, Cat guide and Ski Patrol in Crested Butte for five years.  He started the Crested Butte Avalanche Forecast Center where he currently forecasts.  Besides forecasting he is still heli guiding, ski guiding, and playing in the mountains.  He likes smart people.

Walter Walker
Walter grew up in Central Colorado at the Climax Mine.  He learned to ski at the age of three and began backcountry skiing thirteen years later.  He served as the Ski Mountaineering Instructor for Colorado Outward Bound for eight years and has also been the Coordinator of Outward Pursuits for Fort Lewis College teaching avalanche safety courses and ski mountaineering courses.   He is a founding member of the American Avalanche Association and a long-time Member of La Plata County Search and Rescue.  He has taught for Silverton Avalanche School for longer than he can remember.

Sandy Kobrock
Sandy lives in Pagosa Springs where she owns and operates Wolf Creek Backcountry providing backcountry lodging near Wolf Creek Pass and sponsoring AIARE Level I and II Avalanche Courses.  She worked 15 years doing avalanche control at Squaw Valley and Wolf Creek as a pro patroller ending her career as Patrol Director at Wolf Creek.  During her career she handled two Avalanche rescue dogs, Casper and Elliot.  Sandy is a Certified Instructor at the American Avalanche Association and an AIARE Level I and II Instructor.  She has ski mountaineered in Colorado, California, Oregon, Italy, France, and Austria.

Some Past Instructors...
Leland (Lee) R. Dexter, Ph.D.
Lee has been interested in avalanches since the early 1970s when he took his first avalanche course here in Silverton. Lee has been a mountain shop owner/operator, a RMSIA certified Nordic ski instructor and mountain ski guide, and an avalanche forecaster for the CAIC. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado in 1986 and has been a university professor ever since. He currently teaches Snow and Ice, Weather and Climate, and GIS courses at Northern Arizona University.

Betsy Armstrong
Betsy Armstrong was a researcher with the University of Colorado INSTAAR San Juan Avalanche Project, Silverton (winters) and the University of Washington Blue Glacier Project, Olympus National Park (summers) in the 1970s and ‘80s. In the early 1980s, she was an avalanche forecaster with the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, USFS and State of Colorado, and has instructed at the Silverton Avalanche School, American Avalanche Institute, National Avalanche School, and Babes in the Backcountry courses. She has authored and co-authored numerous scientific and popular publications, including The Avalanche Book and the video Avalanche Awareness: A Question of Balance. She has been a contributor to The Avalanche Review and is a founding member of American Avalanche Association. She was the director of publications at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, COO and director of business development at the Women of the West Museum, and has been involved in all aspects of book publishing since the mid-1980s. Presently, she is a publishing consultant with a specialty in glaciological topics.

Chuck Rose
We have been very fortunate to have Chuck as one of our instructors for many years, unmatched by few.  He brings to us and to you an abundance of knowledge and experience.  Chuck has spent his entire adult life skiing professionally.  His experience includes 28 seasons as a ski patroller and 8 seasons as a Heli guide.

Peter Shelton
Peter comes to avalanche study from the direction of ski school, ski writing, and recreational backcountry skiing.  He taught skiing from 1972 to 1980 in California and Colorado, and was director of the ski school at Telluride.  He has written for SKI, Skiing, Powder, Outside, Mountain Gazette, and Backcountry, among others.  Ski writing has taken him to the Alps, Himalayas, and Andes as well as the Rockies, Sierras, Cascades, Chugach, interior B.C., and Appalachian Ranges.  Peter took his first avalanche course in Silverton in 1981 and has been looking at (and ski-testing) snow in the western San Juans for 30 years.

Craig Sterbenz
Craig, known by many as “Sterbie”, has 35 of professional experience working, and playing, in avalanche terrain. He is currently the Snow Safety Director for Telluride Ski Resort, where he has been on the Ski Patrol since the mid-1970’s.  More than 25 years of forecasting and control work in the San Juan Mountains has given Craig a good look at depth hoar.  His experience also includes climbing in the Cascades and working in the field from the Sierra’s to the Selkirk’s and from Anchorage to Alta.  He has authored a number of papers for the International Snow Science Workshop and the Avalanche Review as well as serving on the working group which authored “Snow, Weather and Avalanche Observational Guidelines” for the American Avalanche Association.  He worked as a consultant for the snow safety plan development at the new Silverton Ski Area and for the USFS on Telluride’s recent expansion.  He attended the Silverton Avalanche School in 1975 and later joined the staff with the offering of the first Level II course.  Craig is a co-founder and former Director of the Telluride Avalanche School and has also worked as an instructor for the Northwest Avalanche Institute, the American Avalanche Institute/Snowise, and the National Avalanche School.  Craig is the Chair of “Standards Awareness” for the American Avalanche Association as well as the Chair for ISSW, 2006 in Telluride.  He received a BS degree from University of California, San Diego in 1970.

Richard Armstrong
Richard is returning to the Silverton Avalanche School after a several years’ hiatus.  He brings an extensive array of experience in weather, avalanche and snow science.  During the winters of 1971-1987 Richard served as Director of the INSTAAR San Juan Avalanche Project through the University of Colorado.  During the summers he served as the Field Project Manager with the Blue Glacier Project in the Olympic Mountains, sponsored by the University of Washington. Richard has also worked with the United States Forest Service at the Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station in Fort Collins, CO.  There he was responsible for evaluating mountain weather and avalanche forecasting. And, From 1985-present, Richard has served as the Senior Research Scientist with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) through the University of Colorado at Boulder.