Show Notes:

Emma’s Links:

• Emma’s website: https://www.emmarwalker.com/
• Emma’s book: https://www.falconguides.com/9781493052783/dead-reckoning/
• AIARE website: https://avtraining.org/

Episode Intro:

Dear listeners of the Female Guides Requested Podcast, welcome back and happy Wednesday! This is your host, Ting Ting. Right now, I’m in my home country, Taiwan, teaching some rock climbing courses. Our guest today is Emma Walker. Emma spends a lot of time outdoors and currently serves as the Education Director for the American Institute for Avalanche Research & Education (AIARE).

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.

Talking with Emma was so soothing; she answered all my questions with thoughtfulness and compassion. I gained so much knowledge from our conversations and couldn’t wait to incorporate all that wisdom into my daily guiding because, as she said, ‘good guiding is education.’ Now please enjoy this episode with Emma Walker.

Things We Talked about:

• The love of the outdoors stems from childhood
• Teaching runs in the family. Emma chose to be an educator but wanted to make sure she could spend much time outdoors
• The impact of the first NOLS course
• From Colorado to Alaska
• Place-based education
• Macro landscape VS. micro landscape
• What is Emma’s interpretation of experiential learning
• Emma’s short river guiding career
• Toughness doesn’t equate high risk tolerance
• What do we want to be remembered?
• What exactly does a curriculum specialist do?
• What does that mean by “student-centered”?
• How do we evaluate the effectiveness of a course?
• Adjust the avalanche education based on travel modes
• Why diversity is important in avalanche industry and other spaces?
• Emma’s book – DEAD RECKONING: LEARNING FROM ACCIDENTS IN THE OUTDOORS

Show Notes:

Angela’s Links:

• https://alpinist007.com/ (personal website)
• Angela Hawse takes helm of American Mountain Guides Association board as group leans on women to foster change in guiding culture

Episode Intro:

Dear listeners of the Female Guides Requested Podcast, happy Wednesday. This is your host Ting Ting from Las Vegas. Today our guest is Angela Hawse.

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.

I love that she considers herself successful in mountain guiding because she still loves the profession and is still in it for the same reason that she got into it initially. She established a lifelong love of playing in the mountains since she was a kid. Her curiosity let her explore all facets of life related to guiding, and she hardly found boredom. We talked about dealing with burnout, giving back to the communities, her AMGA work, changes in the environment and the industry in the past 30+ years, and making a guide career sustainable. I’m super inspired by all the wisdom Angela brought in. Now please enjoy this episode with Angela Hawse.

Things We Talked about:

• Has been guiding for 3.5 decades and still going strong
• Angele’s special sauce to keep her in the industry for this long
• Stay curious
• Diversify
• Mental bandwidth
• Childhood
• Prescott college and first role model
• Was a dedicated climber for many many years before thinking about guiding
• Various jobs from Outward Bound, an adjunct position in Prescott, working for different guide services so on and so forth
• Expeditions and giving back
• All women’s expeditions
• What was is like being one of few female guides back then?
• Ways to develop confidence
• AMGA president – what happened during those years
• AMGA’s DEI work
• Angela deeply cares about climate change
• Trends and changes Angela saw in the past 3.5 decades in the mountains and in the industry
• Being a guide in the US full time
• What does Angela’s work consist of now?
• Alpinist 007

Show Notes:

Holly’s Links:

• Holly’s profile on The Mountain Guides
• https://www.instagram.com/hollyismackin/

Episode Intro:

Dear listeners of the Female Guides Requested Podcast, happy Wednesday! This is your host Ting Ting from Las Vegas. Today, our guest is Holly Mackin.

When Holly was little, no one would have ever assumed she’d find her pursuits in the outdoors. Mostly scared of bugs and raised within the traditions of Catholic culture, it seemed highly unlikely she’d commit to a life living in and out of a van or tent. Something changed in high school when she needed an escape from the drama of her peers. She started running outdoors and practicing yoga religiously. She found herself going on mission trips abroad, which gave her more purpose.

When she decided to go to college at the University of Colorado Boulder, she was exposed to backcountry skiing and climbing. Already a runner, she scheduled her classes around soloing the Flatirons so she could take her practice to more interesting places. Throughout college, she spent summers in Grand Teton National Park, where she later 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. She coordinates all women’s backcountry skiing and climbing programs for The Mountain Guides under the Women’s Network. This program also works to support newer women guides on their journey to becoming mountain guides.

Holly followed her heart to become a guide, cherishes the connections she builds with her clients and fellow guides, and has big dreams to make an impact. Now, please enjoy this episode with Holly Mackin.

Things We Talked about:

• From Kentucky to Colorado, following the love of skiing
• Environmental Anthropology and skiing brought Holly to Jackson Wyoming
• Inception of guiding and it all started at a juicery
• In college, Holly maximized her time being on the ski slopes and rock cliffs
• Got an internship at The Mountain Guides doing all sorts of chores and volunteering to shadow trips to get outdoors
• Right now at Teton Valley guiding skiing and teaching avalanche courses
• Feeling closer to her environmental goals guiding
• Holly’s environmental takes and views and how she uses conversations to remind people that we are part of nature
• Holly loves being outside and human connections
• Women’s Programs with The Mountain Guides – guides development and clients long term progression
• Outlook on guiding
• Beyond guiding, Holly wants to be an entrepreneur