Item: PRESERVING OPERATIONAL EXPERTISE IN AVALANCHE SERVICES: KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER ACROSS DAILY, SEASONAL, AND GENERATIONAL SCALES
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Title: PRESERVING OPERATIONAL EXPERTISE IN AVALANCHE SERVICES: KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER ACROSS DAILY, SEASONAL, AND GENERATIONAL SCALES
Proceedings: Proceedings, International Snow Science Workshop, Whistler, BC, Canada, 2026
Authors:
- Walter Steinkogler [ Wyssen Avalanche Control, Switzerland ]
Date: 2026-09-28
Abstract: Effective knowledge transfer is critical to operational continuity and safety in high-risk environments. When knowledge transfer fails, operational risk increases, and if left unaddressed, accumulated expertise may be permanently lost upon personnel turnover. Avalanche forecasting presents a particularly instructive case, as it integrates two fundamentally distinct knowledge types. Explicit knowledge, encompassing rules, scales, models, and standardized procedures, transfers relatively readily through documentation and formal training. Tacit knowledge, however, poses a greater challenge: the pattern recognition, terrain intuition, and judgement under uncertainty that experienced forecasters develop over years of practice resist codification and are therefore most vulnerable to attrition when senior practitioners retire. This distinction is especially consequential in communities of practice operating across diverse cultural and institutional contexts, where experiential knowledge is difficult to externalize and share. The aim of this study was to create a basic survey to establish a baseline understanding of how knowledge transfer occurs within avalanche operations across temporal scales: daily, seasonal, and generational. The survey was tested in semi-structured interviews with a small sample of different operation types: ski resorts, road operations, and mountain communities across the Alps. Participants qualitatively described their knowledge transfer practices, principles, and experiences, providing insight into both formal and informal mechanisms through which operational expertise is sustained and transmitted.
Object ID: ISSW2026_P3.48.pdf
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15788/1790099460
Language of Article: English
Presenter(s): Walter Steinkogler
Keywords: Knowledge transfer, explicit knowledge, tacit knowledge, SECI model, avalanche forecasting.
Page Number(s): 2022 - 2029
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