Abby Cooper

Abby specializes in working in remote snowy locations as a photographer and writer. She is passionate about education, mentorship, the outdoors, and making every day “the best day ever.”

Abby took her first AST course when she was 13 years old and hasn’t stopped playing in the backcountry since. Her snow certifications include CAA Avalanche Operations L1, AIRIE 1, 2 and Pro, as well as AST 1 and 2. She has worked with guides, mentors, tail-guided herself, and clocks over 100 days in the backcountry each season gaining experience while working as a photographer and writer.

Abby defines “citizen scientist” as “Someone who is able to naturally contribute to a research project from their current skillset, passion and motivation. Sharing your patterns and abilities to collect data for the greater cause.”

Abby joined CSO because, as she says, “It was an easy yes to contribute to something much bigger than me. I’m passionate about being a “snow nerd.” Whether out with friends or on a photography assignment I take the snowpack very seriously and gather a lot of shareable information. It feels great to share this data with a project that can have such an impact on how we perceive our snowpack in the future.”

Why should more people join CSO?

Abby says, “It’s something we’re already doing when we enter the backcountry to stay safe and gain observations for ourselves – it is easy to share it to contribute to a bigger project that will benefit our travel and information sharing systems in the future. It starts now and it can start with you! It’s amazing to help get something so big off the ground with minimal time to share your findings. The more information we gather, the more useful information we’ll be able to receive down the road.”