About

Nick works as a professional AMGA trained ski and alpine guide and American Avalanche Institute avalanche educator in Alaska and California. He guides across Alaska, primarily in Wrangell-St. Elias NP & Denali NP. In the Lower 48 he guides in the Sierra Nevada of California and the Cascades of the Pacific Northwest. Nick is a glaciologist and environmental researcher studying glacial environments and human impact on the West’s ecosystems. He primarily works in the Pacific Northwest, where he leads field studies for the Oregon Glaciers Institute.

Nick's focus is connecting people to the natural world and communicating humanity's complete dependence to our healthy intact ecosystems. His goal is to show people that our natural systems are not only existential, but more fascinating, beautiful, and complex than anything we as humans could ever hope to create. His purpose is to remind people that if life on our planet hopes to not just survive, but thrive, we must rethink and return to the land and her ecosystems on the basis of reciprocity.

Publications:

Bakken-French, Nicolas & Boyer, Stephen & Southworth, W. & Thayne, Megan & Rood, Dylan & Carlson, Anders. (2024). Unprecedented Twenty-First Century Glacier Loss on Mt. Hood, Oregon, U.S.A..

Carlson, Anders & Bakken-French, Nicolas & Thayne, Megan & Pappas, Sam & Molnar, Daniela & Rood, Dylan. (2025). Disappearing glaciers of the Oregon Cascades, USA. Annals of Glaciology. 67. 1-15.

Works Featured In:

Atmos Earth - Ode to a Glacier
1859 Magazine March/April Volume 91 - Oregons Disappearing Glaciers
Columbia Climate School - Meet the Group Monitoring Oregons Shrinking Glaciers

Follow our work at Oregon Glaciers Institute and stay updated on our socials to learn about projects our partners and how to get involved. @glaciersoregon @nickbakkenfrench

Interested in a ski or alpine objective? Want to continue your education in the mountains? Contact me for a guided trip:

Get in touch. Fill form or email:
nicolas.bakkenfrench@gmail.com

Instagram:

Every year, sometime as the first snows start to fall and the leaves start to turn I think about getting all the film I took over the summer developed. Some ridiculous near a thousand negatives taken over five months are delivered to my eyes all at o

Caught a moment between goofing around in the big hills to look back at a winter full of proper shenanigans. Much love to the @brightonskipatrol family, friends, the mountains, and pookster!
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#35mm #utah #ouray #rainier

An unforgettable season in mind-bending country with exceptional company. With all the gratitude, thanks Alaska, you remind us there are still wild and untamable places.
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@steliasguides #alaska #wrangellsteliasnationalpark #35mm

What a winter to be in California… lifelong dream of “skiing” Mt. Tam and endless deep turns in the best part of the state. @swirth123 and I finally tackled the mothership up Casaval ridge. Huge thanks to @mtshasta_skipatrol for an

The remains of the Grizzly Glacier in the Trinity Alps of California, summer 2022.

Just 10 years ago, this was an active and moving body of ice. Now it is gone. This ice was once part of an incredible and diverse interconnected ecological system. T

Citlaltépetl (18,491’) from a few moons ago with @jesse_martens1
Taken on my fairly beat up Canon AE-1…

This late June, Sam and I decided to take a gamble and bring skis to a place we hadn’t heard of anyone making turns at before. And on top of that in mid summer. Now we are still riding the high from a gamble well paid off. Summer laps and *poss

A successful change of plans in the Alaska Range this season led to many exceptionally beautiful moments. Kicked out of the Wrangell Mountains after waiting days for the weather to improve, we pivoted to catch a weather window in Denali NP. With the

There’s simply nothing like it. Soul turns in Wrangell St Elias National Park are like no other. The most remote and heavily glaciated landscape in North America surrounded by her largest peaks. You’ll definitely earn your turns here. Few

“I found that we can have the very best data, statistics, and models chronicling glacier change, but if that information is not grounded within the human stories of place, then that information is largely powerless. If people do not see themselves in the story, then they are not part of the story.”

-Dr. M Jackson, Glaciologist