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Mr. Avalanche, Cal Tassinari
1931-2004
"All the snow in western Montana wants to go one place-the Pacific Ocean," said Cal Tassinari in 1983
to a crowded University of Montana classroom of 100 students. "But some days, it's in more of a hurry to
get there than others." Tassinari knew avalanches intimately-buried in several himself. His expertise
garnered him escalating numbers of backcountry skiers in his classes and landed him the moniker from
Northwest Journal of Mr. Avalanche.
Tassineri pioneered avalanche education in northwest Montana. He captivated grade school students,
gave enthusiastic presentations to outdoor organizations, and taught snow science in the Conservation
and Outdoor Recreation Education program at the University of Montana School of Forestry-a course that
included several overnight backcountry ski trips to study avalanche behavior and route selection.
For three decades, his annual free Avalanche Schools in Missoula, Ronan, and Kalispell packed out.
"Tassinari gave me my first avy education back in the 1970s," said Don Scharfe, owner of Rocky Mountain
Outfitter in Kalispell. "More than 125 people--baby boomers on wooden Bona skis--would cram into the old
Flathead Forest Service supervisor's office. He was a colorful and wonderful educator with lots of
personal experiences to relate."
Three times every winter, Tassinari led five-day ski trips into the Bob Marshall to read the Holbrook
snow data. He also worked for the Northwest Montana Advisory system, a joint project between Glacier
National Park, Flathead and Kootenai National Forests, and U.S. Weather Service to produce snow advisories
for backcountry travelers.
Earlier, Tassinari also led the first certified and trained professional ski patrol at Big Mountain in
1960--a five-man group on wooden skis. The following year, he became the mountain manager and survived an
avalanche in Fault 1, which later saw its name changed to Cal's Country in his honor.
An Air Force survival instructor, photographer, and river runner with a degree in English, Tassinari
served three decades in the US Forest Service. Years before the Wilderness Act was passed, he became a
wilderness ranger-the first in northwest Montana. Later, he drafted the management plan for the Mission
Mountain Wilderness.
Although Tassinari was the regional snow science pioneer, he often claimed that no one was an expert
with avalanches. "This is a very imperfect science," said Tassinari, "and even the 'expert' can get into
trouble if he's not careful." He taught the backbone of current avalanche education: digging snow pits,
traveling on ridges rather than gullies, crossing avalanche slopes one person at a time, releasing pole
straps, and avoiding cornices and lee slopes. He taught that more avalanches happen during or immediately
after storms, that most victims trigger the avalanches themselves, and that you've got 15 minutes to get
a victim out. "If we can save just one life," Tassineri said at the end of one four-day avalanche school
on Big Mountain, "it's worth it."
He dedicated his life to the study of snow and snow safety," said close friend Loren Kreck.
"Historically, his work is worth a lot."
Story compiled by Becky Lomax.
The Cal Tassaneri Scholarship Fund was established after Cal's passing
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