A podcast that navigates the complex terrain of mountains and life
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Latest Episodes
EP 54 Natalie Brechtel
Gut-Z Journey
01:12:57
Natalie first began guiding in 2002. Since then, she has been on all seven continents, applying her skills in the most austere environments. Originally a San Diego native she spent her youth camping and backpacking in the southwest. In her unique journey, she spent many years managing a university outdoor program and 10 seasons working in Antarctica while continuing to guide and teach seasonally. She has focused on alpine climbing and mountain guiding in the High Sierra, Cascades and internationally. She has a real passion for technical search and rescue, working professionally in Antarctica, Yosemite Search and Rescue and serving on the board of her local SAR team in Inyo County.
She currently resides in Bishop California and runs her own business providing mentorship and skills to the next generation of guides and outdoor enthusiasts. Her business [www.gutzjourney.com]Gut-Z Journey provides WMAI certified courses, strength training and health and movement programs.
EP 53 Caroline George
To the Essence
01:40:51
Caroline, an IFMGA mountain guide based near Verbier in the Swiss Alps, has faced many curveballs, but the mountains have always been her refuge—a place to find balance, reconnect with herself, and rekindle her inner light.
Most recently, she faced an unimaginable loss: her life and love partner, Adam George, perished in a helicopter crash in the Swiss Alps. Now, as the sole parent to their child, she is learning how to navigate the mountains in this new reality—both as a guide and as someone deeply connected to the peaks that have shaped her life.
Though the mountains remain unchanged, we experience them differently as life evolves. Caroline is discovering a new way of inhabiting this space, adapting to her shifting world while staying true to her passion. Guiding has become an anchor, offering both stability and a sense of normalcy as she forges ahead on this new path.
EP 52 Amber Smith
Affirmations
01:27:16
Amber is a femme-queer AMGA Certified Rock Guide with over a decade of experience. Most summers you’ll find her at the Yosemite Mountaineering School, climbing grandiose granite walls with her guests. She is passionate about playful, trauma-aware, and embodiment-focused instruction, and she views climbing as an opportunity for powerful personal transformation. If you go climbing with her, she will encourage you to craft a positive affirmation to hone your power.
Before landing in Yosemite, she guided throughout the western United States. She has led glacier mountaineering and alpine rock objectives in Washington’s North Cascades, ski descents in Wyoming’s Grand Tetons, sandstone crack climbs in Utah’s deserts, and girls’ climate science research expeditions on Alaska’s glaciers. In 2016, Amber earned a degree in Geography and wrote her undergraduate thesis on what she called “Feminist Outdoor Leadership: A Guide to Facilitation Strategies for Inclusion and Participant Empowerment in Outdoor Adventure.”
EP 51 Lindsay Fixmer
Patience and Partnership
01:36:49
Lindsay Fixmer is an experienced alpine, ice, and rock climbing guide who has been guiding since 2006. She is on the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) Instructor Team, develops and teaches outdoor programming at Montana State University, and also instructs at indoor facilities. Lindsay spends her winters ice guiding in Montana and Wyoming, spring and fall at various rock venues in the western U.S., and splits her summers between Bozeman and the eastern Sierra. As an AMGA Certified Alpine and Rock Guide, Lindsay brings her passion for climbing to her work, inspiring her clients to excel, build confidence, hone skills, and meet their goals.
EP 50
Angel Robeldo
01:24:13
Angel was born and raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She left Brazil in 2005 to discover the world and ended up discovering herself. She has climbed around the world and done a lot of high-altitude mountaineering, including in the Himalayas, Andes, and Denali. Angel has traveled through more than 80 countries but found Cayman Brac to be the perfect place to live and enjoy her lifestyle.
Since 2013, she has promoted and helped develop rock climbing in the Cayman Islands. She also helped build a non-profit boulder gym in Grand Cayman where a climbing community started to grow. Angel is an AMGA Certified Single Pitch Instructor.
EP 49
Amy Jo Shore
On Fifth Class
01:09:47
Amy grew up in North Dakota and spent her young adult years traveling the world while pursuing her college degree in International Studies. After finding climbing at the age of 21, it became her life’s passion and has been a main focus of her life for almost two decades.
Bouldering, sport & trad climbing, establishing big wall first ascents in the Sierra and Patagonia, guiding 14,000 ft peaks… Amy loves the vast array of disciplines that climbing allows one to pursue. Establishing Fifth Class Climbing School in 2016 allowed her the freedom to guide what really inspired her, which was not big mountain objectives, but rather women’s events and courses that focus on teaching women to be independent climbers.
EP 48
Alexis Krauss
Rise Outside
01:27:45
Alexis is a long-time lover of the outdoors and teaching, with a background in elementary education and human rights. She has been guiding outdoor adventures since 2016.
Alexis is an AMGA Apprentice Rock Guide, a Single Pitch Instructor, and a NYS-licensed climbing and hiking guide. She is an outdoor educator with Wild Earth, a New York non-profit that provides transformative outdoor experiences for youth in the Hudson Valley.
Alexis is also a co-founder of Kinship Climbing Collective, a climbing and leadership program for New York City girls and gender-expansive youth, and Rise Outside, a New York-based 501(c)(3)dedicated to creating access to outdoor adventures for underrepresented communities through inclusive and qualified mentorship.
Additionally, Alexis is a working musician and one-half of the band Sleigh Bells.
EP 47 Emma Walker
Learner Centered Education
01:38:37
Emma is a career outdoor educator with a background in curriculum design and a particular interest in accident analysis. A jill-of-all-trades, she has worked as a raft guide, avalanche educator, and in numerous other outdoor jobs, and has also made ends meet as a waitress, horse groom, and kindergarten teacher. She lives in Spring Green, Wisconsin, with her husband, son, and two badly behaved dogs.
Emma spends a lot of time outdoors and currently serves as the Education Director for the American Institute for Avalanche Research & Education (AIARE).
EP 46 Angela Hawse
Stay Curious
01:53:40
Angela was the 6th woman in the U.S. to become an IFMGA mountain guide with a successful career spanning over three decades. She’s trained and examined aspiring guides for the AMGA for the past 19 years and served as the AMGA president for five. Angela’s led over 30 high altitude mountaineering expeditions to the world’s Greater Ranges and guided remote trips to the Arctic and Antarctic. She skied from Sweden to Norway across Lapland, reached the South Summit of Mt. Everest (500’ higher than K2) and has led numerous technical all-women’s ascents.
She’s currently on the board of the IFMGA and the 1st woman and non-European to join the Technical Commission. Angela has a Master’s Degree in International Mountain Conservation, is on the POW Alliance Team and a Black Diamond athlete. In 2011 she was awarded AMGA Guide of the Year and in 2022 received the AMGA Lifetime Achievement in Guiding Award.
EP 45 Holly Mackin
Impact and Network
01:12:03
Born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Holly grew fond of fresh air and natural spaces early on as a child. When Holly left for college in Colorado at 18, she never expected to pick up a passion for being in the outdoors, skiing and climbing. Holly spent many summers playing in Grand Teton National Park where she planted roots as a mountain guide. Her passion for rock climbing takes her to the Southwest every spring and fall frequenting areas like Indian Creek, Red Rock Canyon and Joshua Tree. In the winter, Holly is usually found in the Tetons hunting for untouched powder and teaching snow science. Holly is currently based in Jackson, Wyoming, as a guide and manages the Women’s Programs for The Mountain Guides.
EP 44 Jessica Baker
The Ski Diva
02:02:06
Former World Tour Freeskiing champion, professional mountain guide, and mother, Jessica Baker, has a knack for seeking out remote adventures. From a young age Jessica developed a love for wild and mountainous landscapes while growing up on a small farm in North Idaho. From the Arctic to the southernmost Andes, Jessica has spanned the globe with her ski and alpine endeavors and broken the ceiling for women in the mountain guiding profession. Jessica lives in Jackson, WY with her husband, a fellow mountain guide, and her two young daughters.
EP 43 Brigitte Denton
Beyond Toughing It Out
01:30:21
Brigitte has lived in the Eastern Sierra (Mammoth Lakes, CA) since 2007, moving from Southern California, where she grew up with the ocean on one side and the mountains on the other. She has a Bachelor of Science degree and teaching credential in Biological Sciences. Before moving to the Sierra, she spent 18 years as a Los Angeles County Fire Department Ocean Lifeguard and EMT, protecting the lives of beachgoers. She also spent seven years teaching middle school integrated science. In 2003, she became a Wilderness EMT and later left traditional K-12 teaching to pursue outdoor education.
Since 2007, Brigitte has guided and instructed courses in mountaineering, backpacking, and sea kayaking, exploring areas of Alaska, the continental U.S., and Europe. These days, Brigitte works for Mono County EMS as an Advanced EMT. She also runs her own business, Beyond Limits Education (BLE), teaching a variety of medical courses and providing education consulting and instructional design services.