Chris Brown is in human risk management and practice is set in backcountry snow. He grew up outside of Philadelphia and after graduating with a degree in Urban Design/Architecture, he moved to Utah to pursue certification with the AMGA (American Mountain Guides Association) in avalanche training. 

Chris works as a ski guide and avalanche/snow science professional, but his real job is helping skiers overcome their biases. He incorporates the work of Kahneman and Tversky, Richard Thaler and other great researchers into his classes and we found his intentionality in decision making noteworthy.

We had a great conversation with Chris and we also want to express our gratitude to friend and colleague, Ben Granlund, for connecting us with Chris. Ben attended one of Chris’ classes and found it so engaging that he referred us to Chris. Ben was also delighted that Chris relies heavily on behavioral science and reminds us that the biggest threat to your life in avalanche country is your own decision making.

After our recording stopped, we discussed Guide Services for training. If you are interested, check out AMGA (amga.com) and the American Avalanche Association: https://www.americanavalancheassociation.org/

Chris Brown Email: [email protected] 

Chris Brown Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cbskiclimb/ 

Ian McCammon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKeoF53syKw

Phil Tetlock “Super Forecasters”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV5Gicb66WA

Familiarity Bias: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Familiarity_heuristic

Expert Halo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_effect

System 1 / System 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow

Premortem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-mortem

Bruce Tremper: https://backcountrymagazine.com/stories/video-avalanche-expert-bruce-tremper-risk/

Bayesian Decision Making: https://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Bayesian_decision_theory

First Tracks: https://www.boston.com/culture/ski-guru/2012/01/31/its_all_about_f

Laurence Gonzales “Deep Survival”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTyfvOrEm1w

Wicked Learning Environments: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/5c5d/33b858eaf38f6a14b3f042202f1f44e04326.pdf

Daniel Kahneman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kahneman

The Tao of Wu: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tao_of_Wu

Kurt Nelson: @motivationguru

Tim Houlihan: @THoulihan

Hip Hop: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_hop

Reggae: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggae

Classical Music: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_music

Death Metal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_metal

Steel Pulse: https://steelpulse.com/

Wu Tang Clan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBwAxmrE194

MadLib: https://www.stonesthrow.com/madlib

Gang Starr: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/gang-starr-guru-bad-name-video-909996/

John Coltrane: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH3mb3oXCpw

Marcus Miller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kCi-SsYD5s

Stanley Clarke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcuigwtdzS4

Bela Fleck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWIfFIEeZjw

Victor Wooten: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzL4BkqmzDQ

Herbie Hancock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHhD4PD75zY