Wendy Wagner came to Anchorage as a ski racer and returned as a snow scientist, leaving her mark in both pursuits before her death earlier this month at age 52.
As the director of the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center, Wagner helped make the mountains safer for people who play in them. Her forecasts and wisdom helped inform skiers, snowboarders and snowmachiners of avalanche risks before they headed into the backcountry, and her leadership helped the center grow during her 15 years there.
As a cross-country skier, Wagner raced at two Winter Olympics and four World Championships and was at the forefront of the United States’ rise as a world power in women’s sprint racing…