ISSW 2008: September 21 - 27
Whistler, British Columbia, Canada
2008 Proceedings (Papers now hosted on-line at Montana State University)
Videos of many of the presentations were taken and are now available for viewing online at: avalanche-research.com
Delegates to the conference were given transcripts of the proceedings on CD. The majority of them are now also available from this site. Each paper is linked to it's entry in the presentation schedule.
Brian Gould & Helene Steiner, Conference Chairs
Andrew Wilkins, Sponsorship/Exhibitors Chair
837 participants; 75 papers; 20 countries.
ISSW returned to Whistler 20 years after its first visit in 1988 bringing along over 500 additional attendees! The local organizing committee did a spectacular job of planning and executing the largest ISSW to date.
The facilities comfortably accommodated the large numbers. There were 17 commercial exhibitors, 14 sponsors and 108 posters. Thanks to encouragement by the Organizers, practitioners continued to attend, present, and socialize in large numbers (28 kegs of beer were consumed and 2,040 bottles of wine were dispatched).
The Papers CD, given out at registration, contained the hard copy equivalent of 2,000 pages. Presentations included avalanche mitigation, fracture mechanics, snowpack modeling , forecasting, stability, education, and a panel session on transceiver technology. Commercial exhibitors demonstrated new technology including the helicopter-borne hydrogen exploder. Field trips included the Whistler Mountain Avalanche Program and the CARDA Programs plus mountain biking and heli-hiking.
The second Avalanche Divas Social was held, where a special tribute was made to Jerry Nunn - the first female National Ski Patrol Avalanche Specialist and early Avalauncher proponent.
The banquet speaker was Sam Kavanagh