Board of Directors
The Friends of Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that is dedicated to raising funds necessary for the operation of the avalanche center each year. The organization is overseen by a volunteer Board of Directors, comprised of local professional, guides and business people who believe strongly in the mission of the Center.
Walter Rosenthal
Honorary President
Walter Rosenthal the Snow and Avalanche Analyst for Mammoth Mountain, a remote sensing expert for the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory and a researcher at theInstitute of Computational Earth System Science, University of California, Santa Barbara. He specialized in remote sensing of snow and snowpack processes related to sintering and avalanches. As a private consultant he provided operational subresolution snow mapping algorithms and programs to the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory from 1995 through 2002. Both the Army and the National Weather Service’s National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center employ his algorithms and are expanding their use to daily operational snow cover maps over North America.
Walter tragically lost his life while trying to save the lives of others in 2006. He was a vital force in the development of the Center and will be dearly missed by us all.
Nate Greenberg
Vice President
Nate Greenberg has called the Eastside his home since 2000. Drawn here by the acess to amazing terrain and quality of skiing, he has spend a considerable amount of time exploring the snowy Sierra. Nate is AAA Level III trainied and has worked as a NOLS instructor for climbing and mountaineering. A former competitive telemark skier, Nate now enjoys getting into the backcountry with friends and family.
His interest in disseminating quality information to the general public helps motivate ESAC. Nate spends a great deal of time on the Center's website, and helps coordinate the overall operations of the Center.
SP Parker
Treasurer
Although originally from New Zealand, SP Parker has been a resident of the Eastern Sierra since 1980. He is a full time professional guide leading trips from Alaska to Patagonia but always returning to the Sierra Nevada which he believes are some of the funnest mountains anywhere. He is certified in rock, alpine and ski disciplines by the American Mountain Guides Association and is an internationally certified IFMGA guide. As part of his guiding work he teaches avalanche courses as an AIARE level instructor in the Sierra Nevada. Avalanche assessment is a daily part of a guide's job and the snowy months find SP out in the mountains on day trips or long trans-Sierra tours digging pits in the snow and evaluating the potential for snow instabilities.
Howie Schwartz
Secretary
Howie Schwartz is an AMGA/IFMGA certified ski and mountain guide based in Big Pine, California. Howie guides skiing and mountain climbing trips year round in the Sierra Nevada, the Alps, Alaska and other destinations. He is an instructor/examiner for the American Mountain Guides Association and is on the AMGA Technical Committee. He was a founding member of the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education and leads AIARE level 1-3 avalanche courses. Howie also trains AIARE instructors. Howie’s skiing relationship with the Sierra started in the spring of 1996 on a basecamp ski trip near Virginia Lakes. Since that time, this love affair has all but ruined his otherwise productive professional life. Howie has still not figured out what “Sierra Cement” is, but he has heard some can be found up near Lake Tahoe.
Forrest Cross
Membership Director
Forrest Cross has been visiting the Eastern Sierra for almost 15 years and has lived here for the last 10 years. One of the main reasons he lives here is for the endless backcountry skiing opportunities during the winter months. For the last 20 years he has been backcountry skiing in the mountains of Northern California and the Sierra. He has completed a level 2 AIARE course and has taught avalanche awareness to guides for Outdoor Adventures at UC Davis. When not playing in the hills, Forrest works as an engineer for the Mammoth Community Water District and helps monitor all the runoff that the winter snows produce. Forrest enjoys being involved with ESAC and helping to spread the word of avalanche safety in the Eastern Sierra. As Membership Director he keeps tabs on membership numbers and maintains the member email list-serve.
Allan Pietrasanta
Director
It was almost 25 years ago that Allan Pietrasanta realized the need for an easier to use, more protective case for his Pieps avalanche beacon. The standard yellow thin cloth bag and shoestring necklace just wasn’t cutting it, so he created high-tech padded pouches that he was able to use in trade for payment to complete one the first avalanche courses taught in Mammoth. While the beacon case project helped increase his avalanche awareness, it was also the roots of a sewing manufacturing company, ABCOM/Buttermilk Mountain Works, that Allan owned and operated for over two decades in Bishop. Allan has left ski tracks in the High Sierra and other mountain ranges of the world, and continues to celebrate the joys of backcountry skiing and its contributions to world piste. He combines his interest in business, his past experience as a mountain guide and early Board member of the American Mountain Guides Association to help ensure a bright future for ESAC.
Scott Quirsfeld
Director
Over the past 18 years Scott has been working in the outdoor industry, starting as a rock climbing instructor, part time Ski Patroller and a PSIA certified Ski Instructor. After a winter in New Zealand, Scott moved from Taos, NM to Mammoth in order to pursue longer winters. He has been a Pro Patroller for Mammoth and a passionate Eastern Sierra backcountry skier since 1998.
Scott earned an Engineering degree at The Ohio State University and immediately relocated to the Rockies where he earned an Emergency Medical Technician degree from the University of New Mexico. Since moving to Mammoth he has earned the following certifications: National Avalanche School phases I & II, Avalanche Blaster’s license, AAA Level III, AUNAC Artillery Gunner, Avalanche Rescue Dog Handler. He has continued to challenge himself and fellow patrollers by organizing avalanche rescue scenarios and training new patrollers at Mammoth. He is currently recognized by Recco, Dynastar/Lange, and Hestra as a representative.
When Scott is not working, you can find him backcountry skiing, ski mountaineering, or ski touring with his dogs all over the Eastern Sierra.
Coming soon...
