Lucy Westlake started mountaineering at 7 years old through a highpointing project. In 2021, she set the record as the youngest person to summit the highest points in all 52 United States, including Denali. At 18, she set a record as the youngest American woman to climb Mount Everest (at the time).

Angie and Lucy talk about:

• Being a competitive athlete starting in elementary school
• Transitioning from running to mountaineering through highpointing
• Highs (and lows) of climbing the high points of the USA
• Behind the scenes of mountaineering and setting records
• What it’s like when other people break your records
• Why she decided to put aside a Seven Summits and Explorers Grand Slam goal
• Lucy’s research on glaciers in college while being a mountain guide
• The impact of ageism, mentorship, and women in mountaineering

Send this episode to a teen who would be inspired by Lucy!

Check out these resources:

• 📱 ⁠Lucy on IG⁠
• ➡️ The Cairn Project on IG
• ✨ The Cairn Project's newsletter

• 🥾 ⁠Become a Trailblazer⁠
• 📅 ⁠Summit Scholarship Foundation

• 🎙️ ⁠Share your story on this podcast! Submit for Field Notes here.⁠

Like this episode? Leave a 5-star rating and review on your podcast app!

Make sure you subscribe to the⁠ ⁠See Her Outside Podcast⁠⁠ so you don’t miss a story!

Brought to you by the Alliance for Gender Equity in Outdoor Adventure (GEA Alliance).

Hosted by Angie Marie Lake and edited by Alyson Castonguay.

You can join Trailtober TODAY and still get a chance to win trail shoes, electrolytes, gear patches and more – sign up now! 🍂

The mountains themselves might be unbiased, but the systems we live in are not.

Kelly Fields is a rock climber, certified climbing guide, and owner of Athena Rock Climbing, a nationwide guide service with a specialty in multi-pitch trad climbing and a primarily all female guide staff.

Kelly’s been building a career around climbing since 2004 and took part in a historic Baffin Island expedition with a team of all women in 2025.

Angie and Kelly talk about:

• Why Kelly left college to pursue big-wall climbing
• The sexism she faced (and still faces) as a guide
• How she built Athena Rock Climbing from a desire for ownership and community
• Why women make excellent climbers
• The physical and emotional dynamics of a 42-day all-women expedition in the Canadian Arctic
• Internalized misogyny and how we unknowingly carry it into the outdoors
• Inviting men into conversations about gender equity outdoors

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Join Trailtober for a chance to win trail prizes and to help close the gender gap outdoors: https://cairnproject.org/trailtober-2025-challenge

Check out these resources:

• 🔗Athena Rock Climbing

• 🧗‍♀️ Athena on IG

• 📱 Kelly on IG

• 🥾 Become a Trailblazer
• 📅 Women of Mountaineering Calendar

• 🎙️ Share your story on this podcast! Submit for Field Notes here.

Like this episode? Leave a 5-star rating and review on your podcast app!

Make sure you subscribe to the ⁠See Her Outside Podcast⁠ so you don’t miss a story!

Brought to you by the Alliance for Gender Equity in Outdoor Adventure (GEA Alliance).

Hosted by Angie Marie Lake and edited by Alyson Castonguay.

(Psst -- Win trail prizes during Trailtober: a trail challenge supporting gender equity in October! Learn more here.)

Heather Anderson has hiked over 50,000 miles — including completing the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and Continental Divide Trail multiple times, and often faster than anyone before her.

Heather shares why writing a memoir could feel as vulnerable and difficult as hiking alone for months. We talk about the mindset needed to write about your life (especially when it doesn’t follow a classic narrative arc), the challenges of maintaining a public presence online, and her tips for aspiring authors.

We talk about:

• Heather's early book and outdoor experiences (personal pan pizzas anyone?)
• The challenges of writing memoirs
• Self-identity after setting trail records
• The impact of social media on authors
• Balancing media consumption and writing
• Tips for aspiring authors

Love adventure books like Heather's?

Grit Lit is our quarterly subscription box meets book club, celebrating women and adventure.

Members get a box every quarter full of woman-created goodies, including a nature-inspired book.

Interested in becoming a part of Grit Lit? Head to ⁠⁠cairnproject.org/grit-lit⁠⁠ to join and get the fall 2025 box, plus a welcome box! It’s a great gift for a friend, too.

Join the trail fun of Trailtober, our October community challenge to spend time on trail, connect with others, and win trail shoes, electrolytes, gear patches and more! https://cairnproject.org/trailtober-2025-challenge

Find Heather on Instagram or explore her website. Make sure to read Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home.

Like this episode? Leave a 5-star rating and review on your podcast app!

Make sure you subscribe to the See Her Outside Podcast so you don’t miss a story!

Brought to you by the Alliance for Gender Equity in Outdoor Adventure (GEA Alliance).

Hosted by Angie Marie Lake, edited by Alyson Castonguay, research assistance by Danielle Peecher