Click here to download Anne’s paper.

Abstract

The risk from avalanches to infrastructure and the general public is managed in a wide range of contexts that differ in operational scale, number of paths, size and frequency of avalanches, and complexity of hazard situations. Similarly, the people managing these risks also vary considerably, ranging from part-time individuals for whom avalanche risk management is only a minor part of their work to large teams of career-long avalanche safety professionals engaged daily with in-depth risk management. While research in the physical sciences has made substantial contributions to characterizing avalanche hazard situations, a structured characterization of the avalanche safety community has yet to be formally established using social science research. The currently limited understanding of the industry landscape and risk management contexts poses a considerable hurdle for designing effective operational tools and supporting industry development. To address this knowledge gap, we will conduct a survey of the avalanche commissions in Switzerland, Tyrol, Austria, and Trentino and South Tyrol, Italy during the 2024-2025 season. To approach the study systematically, we will apply audience segmentation methods that have shown promise in studies of winter backcountry recreationists. We will apply these methods to a set of variables derived from a conceptual framework of avalanche risk reduction that was created to better inform product design and evaluation by characterizing avalanche risk management situations in a comprehensive and systematic way. The expected outcomes of this work are 1) a detailed overview of the avalanche commission landscape in central Europe, and 2) detailed descriptions of typical contexts for avalanche commissioners to better highlight distinct needs, facilitate knowledge transfer, inform succession planning, and direct the design of educational materials and information systems.