Instructors
EDUCATION COORDINATOR
Jenny Cloutier
Born and raised in the Flathead Valley, Jenny enjoys instructing ecology, outdoor medicine, mental health, and avalanche education courses. Jenny has followed her passion for snow and education through working as a patroller at Whitefish Mountain Resort, teaching in the Flathead National Forest’s winter safety and avalanche program, writing and instructing courses for Western Washington University students, and leading Patrol Fund and Flathead Avalanche educational programming. She holds an American Avalanche Association professional level 1 and a Master of Environmental Education and is incredibly thankful for any day spent teaching or playing in the snow.
Erich Peitzsch
Erich is a research physical scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center in West Glacier, MT. He studies avalanches and snow, specifically wet snow avalanches, using drones for snow and avalanche research, and using tree rings to investigate avalanche patterns through time. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. from the Department of Earth Sciences at Montana State University. He worked as a ski patroller at Alpine Meadows Ski Area in Lake Tahoe, as the director of the Flathead Avalanche Center, and currently oversees the Going-to-the-Sun Road avalanche program in Glacier National Park. When not studying snow, he spends time in the mountains and traveling with his family.
Lloyd Morsett
Lloyd is a transplant to the Flathead Valley after spending a couple of decades working and playing in the scariest snowpack on the planet. Lloyd has been a professional ski patroller, avalanche dog handler, and educator since the 1900s. He is also a professional member of the American Avalanche Association and a founding board member of Friends of the Flathead Avalanche Center. Although avalanche rescue and ski touring remain his true loves, Lloyd has recently been seen holding the handlebars of a 150 horse power brap machine.
Teal Gayner
Teal was born and raised in Whitefish where she enjoys skiing, rafting, sailing, and camping with her friends and family. She studied geosciences at The University of Montana and works locally as a geologist in the geotechnical engineering field. She found a love for snow science as she worked for 5 years on ski patrol at Whitefish Mountain Resort and has helped run The Patrol Fund and avalanche education courses since. She has a passion for educating and providing learning opportunities to our community.
Jamie Burkholder
Jamie developed a love for winter and snow sports at an early age in his home state of Vermont. After a brief stint in the "real" world, he began down the path of seasonal employment. In the late 2000's he began working as a professional ski patroller in Vermont, then off to Utah and now Montana. The love of all things winter continues as he helps guide his daughters through their early years. In the last couple of years, he began formally instructing in the avalanche education world and looks forward to many more years of traveling in the mountains.
Morgan Goetting
Morgan Goetting moved to Whitefish in 97/98 for the winter, to spend some time in the snow before moving on and getting “A Real Job”. Whitefish has been home ever since. Morgan is a professional ski patroller at Whitefish Mountain Resort during the winter months and has a landscape gardening business the rest of the year. Morgan still enjoys spending time in the mountains be it snow or dirt.
KoDY Coxen
Oregon native Kody Coxen has lived most of his life with the goal of being outdoors. With that in mind, he moved to the Flathead in 2016. He began ski patrolling at Big Mountain in 2018 and, when not working, he can be found skiing the backcountry. After years of backcountry skiing around the mountains of northwest Montana, he started teaching avalanche courses in 2021. He enjoys teaching people that are looking to expand their snow safety knowledge. During the other three non-winter seasons, Kody works managing natural spaces as an ecologist and enjoys rock climbing, backpacking, and hunting in his free time.
TED STEINER
Ted Steiner has been professionally employed in the avalanche safety industry since the mid-1980s. During that time, his training and work have focused on avalanche education, forecasting, rescue, and hazard mitigation. Over the past 17 seasons, his employment as an avalanche safety specialist has focused on risk management in the industrial setting working with railways, highways, utility companies, and mining operations. Through Ted’s career, instructing avalanche education has been a priority with a personal passion to assist students with learning and improving safety practices when traveling in avalanche terrain. Beginning in the spring of 2023, Ted accepted a position with the Patrol Fund as the Education Coordinator. In this position Ted will be assisting instructors with course materials and preparation for upcoming avalanche safety courses.