The Avalanche Hour Podcast

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Luc Mehl makes peace with Alaska's avalanche terrain

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Jan 15, 2026

Guest

Luc Mehl

Luc Mehl, Alaska-based adventurer, author, and wilderness risk management instructor known for long human-powered traverses. He recounts growing up in McGrath and trading big‑mountain pushing for biking, packrafting, and wild ice skating. He discusses life-changing avalanche experiences, evolving risk tolerance, practical rescue training, and tools for safer route decisions.

01:24:10

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ANECDOTE

Denali Road To Road Traverse

Luc described road-to-road big mountain traverses like Denali where they biked in, ditched bikes, skied the Muldrow, and packrafted out to Talkeetna.
The trip included food drops, buried packrafts, a week storm-pinned on Muldrow, and creative neighborhood-sourced bike trailers for approach support.

question_answer

ANECDOTE

Surviving A Logan Avalanche

Luc recounted being caught and buried in an avalanche on Mount Logan's East Ridge, fighting to create an airway and being dug out by partner Joshua.
He described time slowing, doing math mid-slide (about ski poles), booting up, and creating an airway along his arm after the bergschrund.

insights

INSIGHT

Avalanche Scorecard Changed His Risk

Luc framed an unspoken 'avalanche scorecard' of escalating consequences that haunted him after multiple incidents.
After burying friends, being buried himself, and a partner's death, he realized the only unchecked box left was fatality, which shifted his relationship with avalanche risk.

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Luc's McGrath upbringing shaped his skills

03:26 • 2min

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Learning resilience and fixing things early

05:43 • 2min

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Why Luc shifted from skiing to varied travel

07:55 • 4min

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Wilderness Classics taught expeditions skills

12:04 • 4min

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Road-to-road Denali expedition approach

16:26 • 3min

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Mount Logan: huge logistics and hard lessons

19:21 • 2min

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Avalanche on Logan and the slide experience

21:19 • 6min

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Aftermath: recovery and trip continuation

Avalanche losses changed Luc's tolerance

35:22 • 8min

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Making route decisions without forecasts

43:14 • 2min

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Collecting data, digging pits, and detouring

45:18 • 1min

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Evolving risk tolerance with age and exposure

46:31 • 6min

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Flat‑ice skating: a new reward system

52:33 • 3min

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Open water rescue practice paid off

55:39 • 5min

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Realistic practice and dealing with fatalities

01:00:18 • 5min

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Creating small‑consequence learning opportunities

01:04:51 • 3min

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Decision tools: kill criteria and considering hard parts

01:08:14 • 7min

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Teaching courses: human factors and personal flags

01:15:18 • 5min

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Slow down, talk, and treat it like a profession

The Packraft Handbook

Luc Mehl

Sarah Glaser

Written by Luc Mehl, 'The Packraft Handbook' provides comprehensive instruction on packrafting skills, gear selection, trip planning, and safety for remote wilderness travel. The book blends technical advice with stories from Mehl's extensive expeditions across Alaska, making it useful for both beginners and experienced paddlers. Topics include boat handling, river reading, rescue techniques, and logistical planning for long traverses that combine paddling with other travel modes. The handbook has been recognized with awards for its contributions to boating safety and outdoor education. It aims to empower adventurers to explore remote waterways responsibly and safely.

#161

• Mentioned in 134 episodes

Antifragile

Things That Gain from Disorder

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Albino Santos Mosquera

Genís Sánchez Barberán

In 'Antifragile', Nassim Nicholas Taleb delves into the concept of antifragility, arguing that some systems not only withstand stress and disorder but actually benefit from them. The book builds on ideas from his previous works, such as 'Fooled by Randomness' and 'The Black Swan', and is part of his five-volume philosophical treatise on uncertainty, 'Incerto'. Taleb provides examples from various fields, including science, economics, and history, to illustrate how antifragility can be achieved and how it contrasts with fragility and robustness. He also discusses strategies like the barbell strategy and optionality, and critiques modern society's attempts to eliminate volatility, which he believes are harmful. The book is praised for its revolutionary ideas and multidisciplinary approach, though it has also received criticism for its style and some of the author's views on mental health and other topics.

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• Mentioned in 81 episodes

Quit

The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away

Annie Duke

#124

• Mentioned in 154 episodes

Thinking in bets

Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts

Annie Duke

In this book, Annie Duke teaches readers how to make better decisions by treating them as 'bets' on uncertain outcomes. She emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between the quality of a decision and its outcome, acknowledging the role of luck, and avoiding biases such as 'resulting' and hindsight bias. Duke draws on her experiences as a professional poker player and combines these with insights from cognitive psychology and other fields to provide tools for making more objective and thoughtful decisions. The book encourages readers to get comfortable with uncertainty, seek truth through diverse opinions, and learn from outcomes to improve future decision-making.

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• Mentioned in 20 episodes

The success equation

Untangling Skill and Luck in Business, Sports, and Investing

Michael Mauboussin

In this book, Michael Mauboussin helps readers understand the interplay between skill and luck in achieving successes and failures. He provides a framework to analyze the relative importance of skill and luck, offering concrete suggestions for applying these insights to improve decision-making. The book covers various concepts such as the continuum of activities from pure luck to pure skill, the importance of sample size, and the use of tools like checklists to enhance performance. Mauboussin draws on examples from sports, business, and investing to illustrate his points, making the book a valuable resource for anyone seeking to make better decisions in both professional and personal life.

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• Mentioned in 207 episodes

Radical Candor

Be a Kick-ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity

Kim Scott

Radical Candor by Kim Scott offers a practical approach to management by emphasizing the importance of caring personally and challenging directly. The book argues that effective managers must find a balance between being empathetic and providing clear, honest feedback. Scott draws from her experiences at Google and Apple to provide actionable lessons on building strong relationships, giving feedback, and creating a collaborative work environment. The book introduces the concept of 'radical candor' as the sweet spot between obnoxious aggression and ruinous empathy, and provides tools and strategies for managers to implement this approach in their daily work.

Joe Stock and Luc Mehl have been on many adventures together. Join them for a great conversation about risk management in wild places. In Joe's words: Luc Mehl is one of Alaska’s foremost adventurers, filling the gap between Roman Dial and Dick Griffith. He’s been at the forefront of ski traversing, packrafting, wild ice skating and now wilderness risk management.

Luc grew up in rural Alaska and has traveled over 10,000 miles of the state by foot, ski, pedal, paddle, and ice skate. Luc's work has earned several national awards, two for The Packraft Handbook, and others for public service in boating safety and leadership in wilderness risk management. Luc's business, Triple Point Training, provides wilderness risk management and rescue training.

Luc’s Triple Point Training: https://triplepointtraining.com

Luc’s Podcast and blog: https://thingstolucat.com/

Interview highlights

Luc grew up in rural Alaska and it shaped his life ahead.
Luc shares the story of a few of his big mountain ski trips including road to road ski traverses of Denal and Mount Logan.
Over the past 20 year Luc’s relationship with risk has evolved from pushing the envelope of what’s possible to finding peace with his place in the mountains. Part of this evolution included life-changing experiences with avalanches that have left him no longer comfortable going into avalanche terrain. He’s now at the cutting edge of wild ice skating and ice rescue.
Our conversation concludes with his new projects and work in wilderness risk management.

Thanks to the sponsors of the show.

Legacy Sponsors:

⁠Darren Johnson Avalanche Education Memorial Fund⁠

Partner Sponsors:

⁠onX Backcountry⁠ Use code: avalanchehour for 30% off a year of onX Backcountry Elite or Premium Membership.

Episode Sponsor:

Propagation Labs

Music: ⁠Ketsa⁠

Artwork: ⁠Mike Tea ⁠

Production: Caleb Merrill, ⁠Bob Keating

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