Remembering Wendy Wagner

The Department of Atmospheric Sciences and many others at the University of Utah are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Wendy Wagner after a battle with ovarian cancer. Wendy had a lasting impact on our program and anyone who had the good fortune to know her at the U.

Wendy was a two time Olympian in cross country skiing.  She walked into my office after returning home from the 2006 Olympic Games in Torino, Italy with an intense desire to "get off the hamster wheel" and do something new in mountain meteorology and snow science.  Talk about energy!  During this period, Dave Hanscom who had known Wendy for years through The Utah Nordic Alliance (TUNA) and Utah racing scene, sent me a note saying that she would do great things for our program. 

He was right.

While in our graduate program, Wendy worked with Prof. John Horel to develop techniques to measure snow along cross-country ski racing courses.  She then used a physics-based snowpack model to simulate temperatures along the course.  Work focused on the Whistler Olympic Park in preparation for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and was ultimately published in the journal Cold Regions Science and Technology.  

Wendy with a skier-transported snow-skin temperature measuring device

During her time at the U, Wendy was an enthusiastic backcountry skiing and mountain biking partner of many, including a cadre of students and faculty in our mountain meteorology group.  The skin track was a common place for us to share thoughts about mountain weather, snow science, and deep powder.  As one of our students wrote shortly after Wendy's passing:

"The first years I was in Utah were such formative elements of my life, and Wendy was part of that... a part of the excitement about what life had to hold intellectually, personally, and, or course, on snow. I recall a tour in those "early days" with you and Wendy, and maybe Tyler, up into Neffs... it set a tone for the years to come."

I recall many great powder days with Wendy and others in the department, but in one of the few photos I have of her there's no powder to be seen.  Instead, Wendy is charging up Deseret Peak to ski wind board in the Twin Couloirs.  In many respects, this captures Wendy's enthusiasm, excitement, and indefatigability perfectly.  Long tour, lousy snow, what are we waiting for?  

Wendy on Deseret Peak

While a graduate student, Wendy also coached the Utah Ski Team and developed a deep understanding of snow science and avalanches.  At that time, if you polled the backcountry community in the Wasatch Range about the best people to ski with, Wendy would have surely been at the top of the list.  She went on to a career at the Chugach Avalanche Center where she eventually became director.  She continued to give back to our program by meeting with our students to talk about her career and profession.  Some additional perspectives on Wendy's life are available from her Salt Lake Tribune obituary and Nordic Insights.  In lieu of flowers, consider donating to the Friends of the Chugach Avalanche Information Center, https://www.cnfaic.org/friends/donate/.

We in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences express our deepest sympathies to Wendy's family and many many friends.