Jim Frankenfield

Avalanche Engineer and Scientist
1-877-604-0166; jim@mountain-guiding.com

Background and Qualifications

This page provides my snow avalanche background. Prior to making the decision to focus all of my time on snow avalanches and outdoor recreation I spent time working in the computer/logical design field, the microelectronics field, the rocket motor field, and higher education.

Summary/Narrative

[Jump to Resume]

I have an extensive background in education as well as in avalanches, both scientific and practical. I stay current in the field, and have attended the last six International Snow Science Workshops (Snowbird 94, Banff 96, Sunriver 98, Big Sky 2000, Penticton 2002, and Teton Village 2004), and the International Glaciology Society scientific conferences in Chamonix in June 1997 and in Innsbruck in May 2000. In July 2004 I attended the Snow Engineering conference in Davos, CH. In October of 1999 I attended the AAAP seminar on avalanche education held at Alta, Utah. In early December 1999 I attended the Canadian Avalanche Association Technical Schools Level I professional training course for transportation and resource industry, and in September of 2000 I attended their Avalanche Terrain Hazard Mapping course. In June 2004 I attended the second annual meeting between the German speaking avalanche warning services and representatives of the IFMGA in those areas, and in May 2005 I attended the same meeting in conjunction with a meeting of all European Avalanche Warning services.

I completed my M.Sc. degree in Snow and Avalanche Physics with the Utah State University department of Physics. I have spent time studying the very different snowpacks of the Wasatch range in Utah and the Cascade range in the NW. I have additional but less extensive experience in Canada, Europe and Alaska. I have climbed and skied for over 20 years. For the last ten years or so I have guided professionally in the US. I have authored a number of avalanche-related papers encompassing general interest, administration, and research. I have provided consulting services such as specifying expected impact pressures for buildings in run-out zones and am currently involved with several new avalanche mitigation products developed in Europe.

From 1992 through 1995 I served the Utah Avalanche Forecast Center as Chairman of the Board of Directors . In 1994 I founded the Cyberspace Snow and Avalanche Center. I continue to serve as the Executive Director of this project which has become, arguably, the largest public education project on avalanche safety in the world.

I obtained my first teaching experience as an undergraduate at RPI. Since then I have taught at several Universities in the US and in a program in Europe. I have taught courses ranging from developmental to graduate in level, both traditional and non-traditional. While I continue to tutor students in Math and Science as my time permits most of my teaching now is in the field of Outdoor Education.

Avalanche Related Resume

This is intended to emphasize avalanche related background, additional climbing background and training and specialized training such as medical and rescue has been omitted. Unrelated technical background in areas such as micro-electronics and rocket science has also been omitted.

Early Leadership Development

Eagle Scout with several Palms
1.5 years in Army ROTC, including leadership courses and labs

Formal Education

B.Sc. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ; Systems Engineering
M.Sc. From Utah State University; Physics (Snow/Avalanche Physics)
M.Sc. From Utah State University; Mathematics (Applied Math)

Select Non-academic avalanche training:

2000 - CAATS Avalanche Terrain Hazard Mapping
1999 - CAATS "Level I" for Transportation and Resource Industry
1998 - CAA Continuing Professional Development - Avalanche Forecasting
1980's - American Avalanche Institute Levels 1+2, Alta Utah

Education and Outreach Experience

  • Extensive experience teaching avalanche safety classes, mountaineering skills, rescue methods, and other topics as an independent mountain guide
  • Founder and promoter of the CyberSpage Avalanche Center, which has been a successful outreach program on an international scale
  • Employed by the University of Maryland European Division as a lecturer in Math, Physic, and Computer Science on US military bases throughout Europe
  • Employed as a teaching assistant throughout graduate studies, teaching engineering physics, graduate engineering, and mathematics
  • Employed as an undergraduate to assist teaching upper division logical design and systems analysis

Conferences Attended

International Glaciological Society:

  • 1997 (Chamonix, France)
  • 2000 (Innsbruck, Austria)

International Snow Science Workshops:

  • 1994 (Snowbird, Utah)
  • 1996 (Banff, Alberta)
  • 1998 (Sunriver, Oregon)
  • 2000 (Big Sky, Montana)
  • 2002 (Penticton, British Columbia)
  • 2004 (Teton Village, WY)

Snow Engineering Conference - 2004 (Davos, Switzerland)

Meeting of the European Avalanche Warning Centers - 2005 (Davos, Switzerland)

Meeting on Cooperative Efforts between Avalanche Warning Centers and the IFMGA

  • 2004 (Zurich)
  • 2005 (Davos)

American Association of Avalanche Professionals Education Workshop - 1999

Administrative Experience

President of the Board of Directors, Utah Avalanche Forecast Center - 1992-1995
Founder and Executive Director of the CSAC Avalanche Center, est. 1994

Affiliations

American Mountain Guides Association
American Avalanche Association
American Alpine Club
Alpine Club of Canada
International Association of Hydrological Sciences

Field Experience

  • Extensive tracking of local snowpack in the Logan, Utah region for 2-3 years as part of graduate studies
  • Experience skiing and winter climbing in the Wasatch range of Utah for approx. 8 years
  • Experience in the Oregon Cascades skiing, climbing, and assisting the ski patrol with instruction of their advanced avalanche and advanced mountain travel courses as an "outside expert resource", approx. 10 years
  • Several trips to the European mountains for climbing, including visits to the Swiss Institute in Davos and the Austrian research center in Innsbruck
  • Three multi-day solo off-season ski mountaineering glacier tours in Austria
  • Numerous trips to the Canadian Mountains for ski touring, ski mountaineering and ice climbing in the Rockies, serving as leader/organizer on many of them
  • Instruction of recreational courses, basic and advanced, in Oregon, Washington, Montana, Utah, Nevada, New York, New Hampshire and Alaska

Papers:

Pore Space Characterization of Wet Snow in the Pendular Regime

Proceedings of the International Snow Science Workshop in Banff, 1996.

Volumes and areas of pendular rings with non-zero contact angles

Accepted for publication in Water Resource Research but was withdrawn. Copyrighted.

Building Community Support and Diversifying Funding for Backcountry Avalanche Forecasting

Proceedings of the International Snow Science Workshop in 1994, Utah

Snow Stability and Avalanches

A five part series which appeared in the Wasatch Mountain Club "Rambler"

Avalanche Awareness for Snowmobilers

Written for Snowmobiling ONLINE which is not online anymore.
Abridged version reprinted by Rocky Mountain Powersports

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