Caleb Merrill is back to interview Dan Abrams for a reflective conversation on a tragic avalanche accident. Tune in for a conversation that stems from the soul…. soul skiing that is, and the endless search for those perfect powder turns that brings our small community of soul skiers & riders together.

Dan and Caleb center the conversation’s focus on recounting the Tunnel Creek avalanche accident that Dan was involved with back in 2012. This accident was followed by significant media coverage and quickly drew attention across the country. The New York Times eventually produced a Pulitzer Prize-winning multimedia feature called Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek about the accident, produced by reporter John Branch.

Dan reflects on the lessons he learned from this event and how it has shaped his life today. He highlights that we should put greater focus on our motivations or expectations for a backcountry touring day and how we should change our plans to better align with those goals. We should also make sure we fully read and understand the public avalanche hazard bulletin before leaving the trailhead for a tour and make sure we do not let human biases veil our ability to identify red flags.

Dan is a co-founder of Flylow, a ski apparel and gear brand founded in 2004 by two college friends who were self-proclaimed ‘ski bums’ that wanted to create backcountry ski pants that could hold up to the demands of the sport and terrain.

Key Moments from the Conversation

- Dan recounts and reflects on his involvement with the Tunnel Creek Avalanche Accident near Stevens Pass, WA back in 2012

- The most important part before going into the backcountry should be fully reading the avalanche hazard bulletin and checking the excitement levels so red flags are not overlooked.

- Pay attention to group size - large groups introduce heightened uncertainty.

Resources Mentioned in the Conversation:

Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek, New York Times

Thanks to the sponsors of the show.

Legacy Sponsors:

Darren Johnson Avalanche Education Memorial Fund

AVSS

Drone Amplified

Partner Sponsors:

CIL Avalanche

Safeback

onX Backcountry

Music: Ketsa

Artwork: Mike Tea

Production: Caleb Merrill, Bob Keating

Our next episode is out! Joe Stock sits down with Mik Dalpes for a conversation centered around leadership and culture in the avalanche industry. Mik grew up in Minnesota where she formed a passion for skiing. Her career includes spending time as a ski patroller, Outward Bound Instructor, Park Ranger, avalanche educator, and Avalanche Forecaster for the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Center. Mik had 2 children along the way and has become very interested in what types of leaders and cultures make people thrive in the avalanche industry.

Interview Highlights:

- Good leaders build a culture that is healthy, which includes treating people the same, handling mistakes well, and having a good balance of confidence and humility

- Women should be treated the same as any other person who has a medical condition when they are pregnant and breastfeeding

- A wide variety of skills are needed to be an avalanche professional and equal value should be placed on all of these skills including emotional and social skills.

Resources from the conversation:

- Women and Leadership Conference

- Parenting Resource

- "Is it a Man's World?"

Thanks to the sponsors of the show.

Legacy Sponsors:

Darren Johnson Avalanche Education Memorial Fund

AVSS

Drone Amplified

Partner Sponsors:

CIL Avalanche

Safeback

onX Backcountry

Episode Sponsor:

Open Snow

Music: Ketsa

Artwork: Mike Tea

Production: Caleb Merrill, Angie Lake

Be More Selective, Not More Careful: Hot Takes from the Avalanche Industry

Interview Highlights:

- A terrain-first avalanche education reset: clear language, fewer false certainties, better decision framing.

- Real-world mentorship you can actually build: “friendtorship” structures, debrief prompts, and partner feedback that scales from rec to pro.

- Inclusion that’s operational, not performative: how All In Ice Fest trains guides and changes who feels welcome (and safer) in mountain spaces.

Jason Antin sits down with Kristin Arnold and Sheldon Kerr of Moxie for a candid, wide-ranging conversation that starts at All In Ice Fest at the Ouray Ice Park—and quickly moves into some very real hot takes on the snow and avalanche industry. Tune in to hear Kristin and Sheldon pull no punches as they share experience-backed perspectives on avalanche education, decision-making, and the systems we’ve built around them.

Along the way, they unpack how All In has grown into a major gathering designed for BIPOC, adaptive, LGBTQ2SIA+, and neurodivergent communities—and how centering training and leadership development within those communities reshapes what access, authority, and representation can look like in the mountains.

The conversation then drills into the core of their teaching philosophy: terrain management first, valuing consequence over likelihood, and acknowledging that humans are fundamentally bad at probabilistic thinking (and that this is not a moral failing). They explore “friendtorship” as a more honest alternative to the mythical mentorship pipeline, the outsized impact of short, consistent debriefs, and why being more selective consistently beats trying to be more careful in complex snowpacks.

They wrap with a series of lightning-round moments—including a spirited debate on beacon harness vs. pocket carry, why avalanche accident analysis often gets overcomplicated, and each guest’s Personal Disaster Flag: the human-factor tendencies they actively manage to stay sharp in the field.

About our guests:

Kristin Arnold (she/her) and Sheldon Kerr (she/her), from Ridgway, CO, are the owners and lead guides of Moxie Mountain Guides. As of spring 2025, they are 2 of 19 total women AMGA/IFMGA guides in the U.S.*

Kristin and Sheldon started Moxie in January of 2023. As Moxie, they’ve guided skiing on Chilean volcanos, taught rock climbing clinics all over the Western US, built risk management plans and forecasted avalanches for Colorado silver mines, trained US Special Forces teams in mountain skills, instructed professional avalanche courses all over the country, and worked with small businesses and national organizations to improve their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

Both Arnold and Kerr are also on the Instructor Team for the American Mountain Guide Association, staff members of the American Institute of Avalanche Research and Education, and graduates of Habit Queer’s Fitness Beyond the Binary certification program. They have also completed training through Paradox Sports in working with adaptive athletes.

Resources discussed in the episode:

All In Ice FestMoxie Mountain Guide

Thanks to the sponsors of the show.

Legacy Sponsors:

Darren Johnson Avalanche Education Memorial Fund

AVSS

Drone Amplified

Partner Sponsors:

CIL Avalanche

Safeback

onX Backcountry

Episode Sponsor:

Arva

Music: Ketsa

Artwork: Mike Tea

Production: Caleb Merrill, Bob Keating