Company Overview

In May 2005, avalanche professionals Jim Bay & Phil Hein formed Ava Terra Services Inc. Both Jim & Phil have worked as avalanche professionals for many years, Jim since 1971, working with the avalanche safety program in Rogers Pass, and Phil since 1979 as a mountain and ski guide. Jim brings a strong background in the transportation sector as well as in the ski guiding industry, and Phil many years as a fully certified mountain guide, heliskiing lead guide and backcountry mountain lodge operator. Since 1979 both have taught avalanche safety courses to recreationists and industry. They have also provided mountain & avalanche consulting services in a variety of project areas over the years and recently joined together to form the company operating out of both Revelstoke and Golden.

Jim and Phil have worked together as colleagues since the early 1980’s when they both were employed as heli-ski guides with Canadian Mountain Holidays (CMH) Heli-skiing.

As experienced avalanche professionals with certification and membership in the Canadian Avalanche Association (CAA) as well as mountain and ski guide certifications through the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG), Jim Bay and Phil Hein bring strong backgrounds in avalanche terrain risk-management to their work.

Jim worked for 10 years in Rogers Pass with the Parks Canada Avalanche Control Section and also for 5 years with the BC MoT Highways Snow Avalanche Program as a senior avalanche technician. Jim has also worked as a lead instructor for the CAA for many years and assisted in avalanche course development. Since 1982 Jim has been involved as a consultant, providing specialized avalanche management expertise to mines, forestry companies, utilities and government agencies.

After working many years in guiding and backcountry operations, Phil took on the program coordinator role for the CAA technical training schools during a seven year period. Since 1991 Phil has also provided contract avalanche assessment and explosive control services for forest companies, worked as a consultant with organizations & government agencies on various avalanche and land-use projects, including several overseas projects. Phil was contracted by Parks Canada as a member of the Backcountry Avalanche Risk Review following the Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School fatalities in Glacier Park during 2003.

During the winter and spring of 2005, Jim & Phil worked with Canadian Pacific Railway to develop a plan for establishing an avalanche risk-management program for the Mountain Subdivision which extends from Revelstoke to Field. Ava Terra Services Inc. was formed to provide these services for the CPR, while still maintaining and providing independent contracting services to clients that both principals have been active with over the years.

We look forward to working with our clients and the wider avalanche community. Please contact either Jim Bay or Phil Hein at the contacts listed on the homepage, with any inquiries you have regarding the services that Ava Terra Services Inc. can provide.

Jim Bay & Phil Hein