Meet Our Team

Paul Rogers: Founder, Contributor

When he first began backcountry skiing, Rogers was fortunate to have some incredible mentors like Colin Zacharias, Tom Murphy, Brian Lazar, and Markus Beck. He founded Powder Cloud to be a mentorship resource that will transfer the knowledge of experienced professionals to all backcountry skiers and riders. Backcountry skiing has provided him with incredible happiness, lasting friendships, and the opportunity to traverse the snowscape across Europe and North America. His favorite ski destinations are the South Coast Mountains of British Columbia and the peaks of Iceland. He currently resides in Ridgway, Colo., with his amazing wife, Annie, and their entertaining dog, Hobbes.

Kimberly Beekman: Editor, Contributor

As the former editor-in-chief of Skiing Magazine and longtime editor of SKI, Beekman has been featured in twice Best American Travel Writing and has won numerous awards. She now helps edit Powder Cloud and freelances for titles such as Outside Magazine, Uncommon Path, Powder, Freeskier, Mountain, Elevation Outdoors, and more. She lives in Steamboat Springs, Colo., with her wonderful daughter and terrible cat.

Colin Zacharias: Technical Advisor, Contributor

Residing on the west coast of Vancouver Island, Zacharias is an IFMGA/ACMG mountain guide who currently works as a mountain safety consultant, backcountry ski guide, and avalanche instructor. As a guide, Zacharias enjoys leading ski tours around the world including Iceland, the Antarctic Peninsula, and the backcountry lodges of British Columbia, and he also works as a guide for heli and snowcat operations. His contribution to education includes mountain operations staff training, pro avalanche and mountain guide courses, instructing Canadian Avalanche Association (CAA) professional training programs, and working on committees to develop educational curriculum for the CAA, ACMG, AIARE, and AIMG. He also works as a mountain safety consultant for heli and cat operations, ski areas, and the transportation industry. While he enjoys backcountry skiing, the true loves of his life are, in order, his wife, cat, surfing, and espresso.

Karl Klassen: Contributor

For more than 35 years, Klassen has been a guide, researcher, author, filmmaker, mentor, instructor, and examiner. He has been both the executive director and the president of the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides. He was one of the key players behind the founding of Avalanche Canada in 2004 and has played a crucial role in its growth ever since as the head of its forecasting program, all while acting as the lead guide at Monashee Powder. As the CAA puts it, “Over the years he has left an indelible imprint on the public bulletin, InfoEx, and almost every other advancement of the avalanche community.”

Rob Coppolillo: Contributor

Coppolillo is an IFMGA/AMGA mountain guide who enjoys leading mountain adventures and teaching avalanche courses in the western United States, European Alps, Svalbard, and British Columbia. He’s the 97th American to have earned his international certification with the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations (IFMGA). He speaks French and Italian, and he’s a freelance writer and the author of “Holy Spokes: A Biking Bible for Everyone” and “The Mountain Guide Manual” (Falcon, 2017), one of the official textbooks of the AMGA, and “The Ski Guide Manual.” He lives in Seattle, Wash., with his ever-understanding wife, Rebecca, and their identical twin boys, Luca and Dominic. 

Support The Powder Cloud

Support education and mentoring for all backcountry riders

We have a favor to ask of our backcountry community. Powder Cloud believes our educational content and journalism should be easily accessible to all backcountry riders. A majority of our content is free, and we strive to limit annoying distractions like blinking ads, paywalls and pop-up screens.

We need your support to sustain the work we and our contributors provide, and to help us develop new and exciting ways to educate our community.

With as little as $5, you can help our mission—to provide backcountry skiers and riders the mentorship they require to travel safely and find the happiness. It only takes a minute and we’re so grateful and appreciate you.

Support Powder Cloud