Sign-In
Cart
Throwing Stones in a Glass House: A career battling avalanches in Little Cottonwood Canyon
Paperback
Biographies GeneralGeneral ScienceSkiing
ISBN13: 9781958877722
Publisher: Booklocker.Com Inc
Published: Dec 15 2022
Pages: 222
Weight: 0.73
Height: 0.51 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
This is the story of Liam FitzGerald, who as a young man in the late-1960's, more or less stumbled into the exciting and often hazardous life of an avalanche worker. His attraction to this line of work led him to Little Cottonwood Canyon, in Utah's Wasatch Mountains, the birthplace of Avalanche Control and Forecasting in North America.
There he landed a job as a Ski Patroller at the soon to open super-resort of Snowbird, a new generation ski area that would soon become synonymous with deep snow and steep terrain, just as the ski industry in the U.S. was really about to take off.
Following a rough start to the resort's inaugural season, Liam was abruptly elevated to the position of Snow Safety Director, the person responsible for the avalanche program at the fledging ski area, after the first few weeks of operation. He found himself in an environment notorious for large and deadly avalanches that threatened not only the skiers flocking to the resort's snow covered slopes, but also to motorists traveling along the canyon highway, guests staying at the hotels and lodges, and local residents who called the canyon home. As he would quickly come to understand, in Little Cottonwood Canyon, avalanches can often be the most important thing in everyone's life.
Ready or not, he was thrown into the fray, and quickly realized he had a lot to learn in a short period of time.
For nearly fifty years Liam negotiated a capricious landscape of snow and avalanches, aware of his considerable responsibility, learning as he went; in an era that not only witnessed explosive growth in the ski industry, but also in the number of people willingly putting themselves at risk with their voracious attraction to deep snow and steep terrain. But it was also an era of tremendous advancement in the field of avalanche research, avalanche forecasting and avalanche control, when the level of knowledge and understanding of snow and avalanches increased exponentially. This was an exciting time to be an avalanche-guy and Little Cottonwood Canyon was arguably one of the best places in the world to follow that pursuit.
This is a story about learning from one's mistakes, about friendship and camaraderie, about exciting times, interspaced with moments of fear, and on occasion- sorrow. But above all, it's a story of a rather regular person who was lucky enough to have a unique job in a very special place.
Also from
Fitzgerald, Liam
Die Frage der belgischen Unabhängigkeit im europäischen Kontext und Lord Palmerstons Belgienpolitik 1830-1833
Fitzgerald, Liam
Paperback
Der Kampf gegen die Osmanen und die Muslime der Mittelmeerländer: Kaiser Karl V., König Ferdinand I. und die Osmanen
Fitzgerald, Liam
Paperback
In Pursuit of Democratic Legitimacy? Niklas Luhmann and the European Parliament Elections of 2014
Fitzgerald, Liam
Paperback
Also in
Biographies General
Bluesland: Portraits of Thirteen Major American Blues Masters
Pete Welding (ED.)
Toby Byron (ED.)
Hardcover
Karl Popper - The Formative Years, 1902 1945: Politics and Philosophy in Interwar Vienna
Hacohen, Malachi Haim
Hardcover
The Children of Athena: Greek Intellectuals in the Age of Rome: 150 Bc0-400 AD
Freeman, Charles
Hardcover
Make It a Double: From Wretched to Wondrous: Tales of One Woman's Lifelong Discovery of Whisky
Sackier, Shelley
Hardcover
The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race
Isaacson, Walter
Hardcover
An Enemy Such as This: Larry Casuse and the Fight for Native Liberation in One Family on Two Continents Over Three Centuries
Correia, David
Hardcover
Agents of Chaos: Thomas King Forçade, High Times, and the Paranoid End of the 1970s
Howe, Sean
Hardcover
The Secret Life of the Savoy: Glamour and Intrigue at the World's Most Famous Hotel
Williams, Olivia
Paperback
The Badger: The Life of Bernard Hinault and the Legacy of French Cycling
Fotheringham, William
Paperback
The Devil's Diary: Alfred Rosenberg and the Stolen Secrets of the Third Reich
Wittman, Robert K.
Kinney, David
Paperback
Florence Kelley and the Nation's Work: The Rise of Womens Political Culture, 1830-1900
Sklar, Kathryn Kish
Paperback
The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn: Family Politics at the Court of Henry VIII
Warnicke, Retha M.
Paperback
A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II
Purnell, Sonia
Hardcover
Living with a Wild God: A Nonbeliever's Search for the Truth about Everything
Ehrenreich, Barbara
Paperback
Seafaring Women: Adventures of Pirate Queens, Female Stowaways, and Sailors' Wives
Cordingly, David
Paperback
The Butcher, the Embezzler, and the Fall Guy: A Family Memoir of Scandal and Greed in the Meat Industry
Cherington, Gretchen
Paperback
Gift of Power: The Life and Teachings of a Lakota Medicine Man
Erdoes, Richard
Lame Deer, Chief Archie Fire
Paperback
My Own Devices: True Stories from the Road on Music, Science, and Senseless Love
Dessa Wander
Hardcover
Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice
Giuffre, Virginia Roberts
Hardcover
How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay: Tips and Tricks That Kept Me Alive, Happy, and Creative in Spite of Myself
Lawson, Jenny
Hardcover
Family of Spies: A World War II Story of Nazi Espionage, Betrayal, and the Secret History Behind Pearl Harbor
Kuehn, Christine
Hardcover
Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young: A Fugitive Family in the Revolutionary Underground
Dohrn, Zayd Ayers
Hardcover
A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon
Fedarko, Kevin
Paperback
Catch the Devil: A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast
Colloff, Pamela
Hardcover
Through Mom's Eyes: Simple Wisdom from Mothers Who Raised Extraordinary Humans
Jones, Sheinelle
Hardcover