SEATTLE, WASH. The Northwest Avalanche Center (NWAC) recently announced in a press release that the former NWAC Program Director Scott Schell has taken over the role of Executive Director from Benj Wadsworth as of July 1.
Schell is exited to settle into his new role at the NWAC as Executive Director.
The NWAC is an organization that works to provide avalanche and weather forecasting, education and data collection for backcountry users online and through on-the-ground programming.
An AMGA guide and ski mountaineer, Schell first became interested in backcountry travel at a young age, climbing Mt. Rainier at 15. He had climbed all the Cascade volcanoes by the time he was 16 years old.
“That was the exposure I had to being outside and wanting to live that lifestyle,” Schell explains. “I started dabbling in backcountry skiing in high school in 1989 and got into guiding in ’97-98.”
This experience provided him the knowhow to develop effective outreach strategies in his previous role at the NWAC. To enhance both programming and the overall mission of the organization as the new E.D., Schell looks forward to
refocusing efforts on five key recreational communities: backcountry skiers, backcountry snowboarders, snowshoers, alpine climbers and snowmobilers.
“One of the things [I look forward to] is really making some big leaps in how our forecasts are viewed and interpreted,” says Schell. “A big push in the next few years will be in revamping our mountain weather page and working on a larger data visualization project.”
He is also interested in advancing educational programming for underserved communities in the backcountry.
“One of the big projects that we would like to put effort into is specifically targeting snowshoers and adding focus to the motorized community.”
And Schell looks forward to the shift in his job description within the organization and the new endeavors that will hold for him.
“Instead of being involved with the daily operations such as our field observer program or directly running our education program, I will be shifting focus to the strategic aspects of our organization and mission.”
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To find out more about the Northwest Avalanche Center, visit www.nwac.us.
Good plan on reaching out to snowshoers. The last couple years up at Baker it seems that every day is just a big ol roulette wheel for most of the snowshoers. And some days, it’s a lot of them!