Drew Hardesty // Avalange Forecaster

#89. This one is for the sailors who are also skiers - Drew Hardesty is a forecaster with the Utah Avalanche Center. How does he relate to sailing? Drew is the definition of an outdoorsman, and the wilderness envrionment that is the backcountry in the mountains of Utah is strikingly similar, philosophically, to the wilderness that is the high seas, and both are blessed and cursed with the same adventure and the same problems.

Drew and Andy discuss his career as a rescue-climber and backcountry avalanche forecaster, as well as Drew's ideas on how to manage the influx of people into the backcountry, how those same problems plague the ocean sailing community, his hopes and fears to the future of backcountry use, and what he thinks we can do about it.

Reach out to Drew to join his backcountry outreach program on drew [at] utahavalanchecenter [dot] org, or check out avalanche.org for more information. 

Want to go ocean sailing with Andy? Book a berth on 59-north.com/events.