Item: INTERSECTIONAL RISK: AN EXPANDED DEFINITION OF RISK FOR THE AVALANCHE AND GUIDING PROFESSION
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Title: INTERSECTIONAL RISK: AN EXPANDED DEFINITION OF RISK FOR THE AVALANCHE AND GUIDING PROFESSION
Proceedings: Proceedings, International Snow Science Workshop, Whistler, BC, Canada, 2026
Authors:
- Rachel D. Reimer [ University of British Columbia, Okanagan, Kelowna, BC, Canada ]
Date: 2026-09-28
Abstract: The Rise Study is a feminist appreciative Action Research project that utilized in-depth interviews amongst 17 mountain guides and avalanche professionals from Canada, the United States, France, and Switzerland. It sought to centre experiences of risk, inclusion and psychological safety among 2SLGBTQ+, women, BIPOC, or trauma-affected members of the profession. Study findings offer an expanded definition of psychological safety and psychological risk, and identify human-caused hazards in the profession. Two key conceptualizations of participants' experiences as mountain guides and avalanche workers emerged from the analysis: intersectional risk, and the second shift of risk management. Intersectional risk challenges and expands on the traditional concept of risk, and is an interplay between mountain hazards and human-caused hazards, exposure and vulnerability. This paper focuses solely on the concept of intersectional risk, while other findings of the Rise Study are shared elsewhere. The interplay between psychological safety, risk, and physical safety provides a clear connection to culture change and safety outcomes in nature-facing, high-risk professions beyond the avalanche and mountain guiding profession. This paper points to intersectional risk provides as a more suitable framework for coping with emerging needs within the profession to address increasing risk complexity due to the cascading processes of climate change.
Object ID: ISSW2026_FS3.1.pdf
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15788/1790098428
Language of Article: English
Presenter(s): Rachel Reimer
Keywords: Risk, psychological safety, human factors, intersectional feminism, climate change.
Page Number(s): 91 - 96
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