This is a reflection of the winter of 2023 with Grounding Truth from the perspecitve of Julz, the founder and lead guide for all Grounding Truth programs. Throughout the reflection, she incorporates photos from tours and quotes from mentees throughout the 2023 season. If you’re interested in learning about the “Ground Truth” of these programs (i.e. what are they all about, how they operate, what people are learning, what the group culture is like, what kinds of tours people are going on), then this is a good read for you.

Puddles of cherry blossoms line the gravel path near my house and birdsong rides a warm sea breeze. The shadowy north facing slopes that once held cold, soft snow, can no longer hide from the sun’s gaze. The seasonal shift is upon us. Spring has arrived to the Pacific Northwest.

This winter was the first season Grounding Truth was in operation. This small business started from a seed of vision that guiding could be done differently, then took root as the desire within me grew to weave my work with threads of community, connection, and continuity. And now over the course of only 6 months, it has blossomed into something far more profound and beautiful than I could have ever imagined.

As I travel back in time to the start of the winter, meeting all the mentees for the first time at the trailhead or the bakery —what I remember most is the feeling I had the moment we all introduced ourselves. Somehow it was obvious with only a smile and a wave, that I had just found my people, that we were definitely friends, and that this season was going to be epic.

Now, after an entire winter of skiing, scheming, talking about avalanches, submitting observations to NWAC, writing trip reports, debriefing, and potlucking, I realize just how “spot-on” that feeling was. The people who found me, in the many ways they did, and decided to commit the time and effort to becoming more competent and mindful backcountry travelers, truly made this season special.

Whether by way of sharing our perspectives and opinions, or through collective fun having or support, this program was really a collaborative and co-created space where we all benefited from having each other there. As one mentee describes, “One of the things I really valued about the way Julz allowed the course to flow was the sharing of collective knowledge. I learned so much from each of your perspectives, experience and questions. Reflecting back on our tours I am in awe of the new places that we got to ski together, the challenges we undertook, and the support we shared with one another to keep the stoke high and get everyone home safely.”

Although, I feel the real magic has been in the connections, the community, and the continuity of it all, there were some really amazing days on snow I should probably mention too.

The 2023 Avalanche Mentorship Program, consisted of three different groups with a ratio of 5:1. Two groups were all women, and the group that met twice in a row each month was mixed gender. Throughout the season, the groups met on a consistent day each month. The days this year were, Monday/Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Participants were aware of all the dates at the time of applying and committed to the entire season. Participants ranged from advanced-expert recreational skiers, to long time locals, to folks new to the area, to ski-patrollers pursuing a career in guiding, to parents, to young single adults. It really feels impossible to describe all the alumni in one sentence. Everyone came with a unique background of experience to contribute and many had invested avalanche education beyond a level 1. Although a level 1 is the only avalanche education prerequisite for the program. The goal was to put avalanche education theory into context —have time to apply all the things learned in a level 1, or level 2, or pro 1. There is lots of flexibility with the level of discussion we go into about avalanche problems. However, the goal is to actually go skiing —to apply our knowledge in context in order to choose terrain that is both appropriate, and not overly conservative for the skiiers who are interested in learning how to step out within a conservative margin of risk tolerance. As you read about our sessions below, I try to keep the knitty gritty details somewhat light. If you have additional questions or are interested to hear more about the season, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

The first session for every group was a combination of a rescue skills drill and a short tour. This session’s main focus was to grow the groups’ trust in one another, address group culture, risk management and risk tolerance, and get a sense for the ability levels of each skier. Two groups skied North Facing lines in Bagley Basin, and another went beyond the basin where they got to witness a beautiful inversion on the saddle before our final descent towards the cars. As we toured, we talked about relevant moving observations one might make a note of while skinning towards an objective, and how to perform them correctly. In other words, we started to build our toolbox of skills neccessary to make relevant observations about the avalanche conditions (which were mostly related to wind on these days).

Some comments about learnings after Session One:

“I think the most memorable learning moment came from working through the AM form and using that in the field to compare with what we were experiencing. It was awesome to learn how to do a hand shear as a quick check on our expectations. I feel like that process made me feel a lot more confident in how to make educated decisions in the backcountry and how to step out with intentions set before human elements come into play.”
“Two things I immediately thought of was beacon practice and traveling in avi terrain and making assessments. When I have toured in avi terrain in the past I have always practiced the one at a time skiing and keeping eyes on your partners, but the method Julz shared with us felt more secure and intentional. I think a part of that was the good communication that was kept throughout each line we skied and the use of radios. I also really liked the leap frog strategy where Julz skied down to a point where she could have eyes on each of us, so we could just ride to the bottom of the hill.”
“Our constant assessment and reassessment of weather, snowpack, visibility, and terrain most stood out to me. …All of this made me want to be constantly aware on tours - not just at critical decision points. oh my gosh, I learned so much.”

In our second session, two of the groups circumnavigated Table Mountain while the Monday/Tuesday group had a mix of Considerable and High Avalanche hazard where we skied around Bagley Basin and discussed best practices for building a snow shelter. During the high hazard day, we also explored a wide variety of test slopes and triggered many small cornices and avalanches and did a fair amount of observing and reporting our findings to NWAC.

Cara kicks a cornice!

The groups that circumnavigated Table Mountain had different conditions. One group was faced with managing whiteout conditions in the morning, isolated windslab, and successfully identified a buried layer of surface hoar that was the culprit of a recent avalanche in Pond Shot. As the afternoon sun began to burn off the low clouds, we were blessed with gorgeous views of the surrounding mountains, and an everychanging sky. This crew also had the *great pleasure (scarcasm) of navigating a breakable surface crust on the descent from Herman Saddle, and showed off their hop and kick-turns as the sun was quickly setting. As we glided into the bottom of the basin, we witnessed a few curious Ptarmigans poking around outside their burrows in the last of the evening glow.

The other group had a mix of powder and firm conditions with sunny skies, warming snow surfaces, and a few layers of old windslab in the snowpack — this group somehow managed to get mostly sunny, stable, powder days every time we went out (so much so that I started referring to them as the sunny-pow crew)…magical women for sure! Since the snow and stability were so good, we decided to ski a steeper, more northeasterly variation for our descent into Bagley Basin. I can still remember the sunset powder turns —wow, just wow.

The first two sessions for every group happened in January. The intention behind having two sessions in the first month, was to help everyone get to know each other better, and to inspire some momentum for the season. When I designed the program this way, I did not realize the impact it would have on community building and group bonding. For the remainder of the season, our sessions were once per month, which allowed for time between sessions for the groups to get together and ski with each other. For example, the Wednesday group was composed of all women, who mostly had Wednesdays off of work. So for the rest of the season, I’d be getting instagram updates that they were all getting after it during the weeks between our sessions. It made my heart so happy to know they were not only getting out and practicing what we were learning, but they were becoming friends outside of the program. This is what it’s about!!

Some of the learnings expressed by mentees after Session Two:

“I feel like I've grown the most in knowing how to read conditions ahead of time, take observations in the field, and then have better discipline on the descent (positioning to keep eyes-on, radios, etc.). I've really appreciated practicing the "data-collection" mindset in the field and improving my ability to talk about what I've observed. It's an art and a science!”
“My biggest take away from yesterday was recognizing it’s okay to not understand something in the snow pack. It was really helpful for me to see the interface with a hand shear before pond shot, decide we didn’t really understand what was going on with it, take a step back, and pick different terrain. Rather than fixate on whether or not to ski the line, we recognized something unexpected and withdrew. There was something really liberating about that. In a similar vein, it was really helpful for me to get feedback on setting a skin track. Sometimes I feel like there is an absolute right and wrong in things like where to set a skin track and how/when to ski a line. Yesterday showed me the flexibility in it all, and the fluidity (within a margin), of decision making and movement in the mountains.”

It was not by design, but each group definitely possessed it’s own culture and flavor. Some groups were most interested in snow science and avalanche education topics; others were more interested in discovering new terrain and discussing group management; others had an appetite for adventure and in-depth discussions around decision making.

I think the fluidity of content is part of the magic of this program. Having the skillset that I do, as an educator in avalanche education, snow science, decision making, ski guiding, and an intimate knowledge of the Baker Backcountry, I was able to meet each group where they were at with their varying goals and objectives. Also, it was around this time in the season when I kept getting questions like, “When can we meet the people in the other groups?”

Mid-Season Grounding Truth/NWAC Community Potluck

As you’re probably starting to pick up on, the co-creative nature of this program makes it what it is. Therefore, feedback is highly valued and listened to. Realizing how cool it would be to bring everyone together, I started dreaming of a way to do it.

With a minimal amount of brainstorming, I landed on hosting a potluck in a space donated by my boss at Backcountry Medical Guides, where I invited our local NWAC Avalanche Forecaster, Irene Henninger, to come speak about her process of writing the forecast, and the value of observations. She spoke about the vastness of the region she is tasked with forecasting for, and how our self-made localized forecast may differ based on observations we make on any given day.

The event was a total success, and my secret hope that people would feel more comfortable submitting observations if they knew who was reading them— came true! I think this kind of event will be a staple for years to come, and it is my hope to host more events like this throughout the season that can be open to more people in the local backcountry community (If you’re reading this and have ideas or ways to collaborate, please send me an email.)

By the time the third session came around, we were all in the flow with the season. Many of us had been skiing for nearly three months, and were now deep into a rhythm riding the low arc of the winter sun. By this time, we all had a clear sense of what our group members were capable of, and what the goals of each of our partners were.

One of the reasons for making this a season long program, was to offer an opportunity for everyone to experience different conditions and hazard ratings —where they could experiment with tour planning, terrain choice, and making observations.

This time the “sunny-pow group” finally saw some instability. There had been a wind event, that loaded specific aspects and had produced multiple natural avalanches. There was a decent amount of uncertainty about the nature of the problem, as some of the recent activity seemed to fail on a persistent layer. In other words, we had some interesting snow conditions to investigate and more complex decision making. On this day, there were very few parties out, and we felt confident we could test a cornice without impacting or endangering anyone else. We also felt that it would give us some solid information about the stability. We spent time discussing and practicing conservative terrain choices within a larger piece of terrain, and eventually skied two beautiful untracked lines in perfect Surface Hoar capped powder. Oh gosh, that was pretty sweet! One of the runs, I had never skied without a track in it before and we all really enjoyed ourselves.

My highly adventurous group of mentees had been scheming all week via email, how they could convince me to get out of the basin and explore some new terrain. Literally dozens of emails about conditions, terrain, and general discussion of goals —it was amazing. And well… it didn’t take much convincing. We had super stable conditions with only some minor sluffing potential, and went out attempting to do a full circumnavigation of Mount Herman. All said and done, it was an adventure indeed. 5.5 miles and 3,400’ of pure magic, including a fairly steep bootpack and some sunset low angle pow turns in Paradise Valley.

Mentorship is such a different flavor than pure guiding. There is a lot of space for friendship, and learning, and being human. I think the value of these women getting to engage in a true adventure with me, and watch me work through the navigation and risk management of the day, brought a lot of value to their experience. I also just LOVE a good adventure with people who accept the ridiculousness and challenge of it all.

Ever since day one, I made it explicit that in order to step into unknown terrain, we needed to know that we all can ski in control regardless of the conditions. This group, and the others too, really showed me that. My adventurous ladies group, in particular was composed of strong skiers who have an exceptional awareness of their own movement limitations. This was the same group that had the joy of skiing breakable crust (*scarcasm, breakable crust is one of the most challenging conditions to ski) from Herman Saddle at dusk during our second session, and after watching them all take it at their own pace and advocate for their individual needs, I knew I could trust them —I knew we could step out in our terrain and still be within an acceptable risk tolerance. This is how it works. We build it from the foundation forward and it always comes back to the core structure of relationships, trust and authenticity.

Some feedback from Session Three:

“We have covered SO much new and unexplored terrain, including in good visibility conditions. Now I feel confident taking the right partners into many of these areas, as well as much more confident in using topo maps to navigate the terrain. It has also helped me to be more aware of the snow conditions as I travel, constantly trying to make assessments for the planned routes, and pushed me physically given how long some of our days have been. It's also been helpful to turn the information in the avalanche forecast into more usable and practical data. Also great tips on setting skin tracks, and other little insider tips. Our days have been such grand adventures, and I feel so lucky to be out in the mountains with you all :)”
“Our day really reinforced the power of taking the conservative path or path of least mental resistance, especially at the end of a day or when feeling physically or mentally tired. Our decision to drop in the lower angle section of Paradise Valley stood out to me. It reminded me of the time we were thinking through another line and ultimately decided there were unknowns we weren't comfortable with at that moment in time, so we simply skied something else. This moment in Paradise Valley, along with the rest of the exit made me think about how to simplify decisions in the backcountry - it feels, to me, theres a time and a place to grapple with more nuanced info and processes and theres a time and a place to just step back.”
“I think my biggest growth through this program/year so far has been developing curiosity. In past seasons I've been more ski objective focused and this season I'm really enjoying the process of gathering info, thinking more critically about the weather and avalanche forecast, and poking around in the snow. I love when Julz spit ball ideas about what could be going on as we travel through terrain, and I find myself starting to do that a bit more, and it's been so. much. fun. Its like a little game of "I wonder...”
“There are lots of ways to manage people in terrain, but it all stems from active communication and decision-making. I really liked how throughout the tour we talked at various points about all the possible ways that we could approach or move through the terrain. Deciding whether to fully ski a run or to pick places to regroup to help manage terrain and avalanche risk. I really appreciated the communication we had with the other party on our second ascent. For me, it was a great model for how I want the backcountry community to be. Kind and communicative with a spirit of comradery.”
“This program is really helping me to put all the pieces of the process together. Every day out together I learn so much from each of you! One thing that I have been particularly reflecting on is that within a team leadership is fluid, moving from each of us depending on the situation. I think it is so important to look at everyone's individual strengths and see how those can be used collectively by the team and allowing leadership to flow. I am so glad I get to share this incredible experience with all of you!”

The fourth session really felt like a peak for most of the groups. By this time in the season, everyone is familiar with what has been happening with the snowpack since early January (now early-March), everyone has a solid skillset in how to make observations in a variety of ways, many folks are comfortable enough with each other to have more casual conversations, and there is very little hesitation to speak one’s mind. This is HUGE! Most people came into this program with a sincere desire to feel comfortable speaking up —and I would say that at the time of our first session most people were not there yet.

Empowering people’s voices is one of my main goals as an avalanche mentor. When I can feel confident that everyone is feeling heard and respected in their voice, it makes my job much easier. It’s truly something special when I can trust that everyone means what they say and says what they think. No one is holding back, and it is a beautiful thing for decision making. It’s really a sort of magic that only comes out over time, and I feel lucky to bare witness to it all.

By the time of the fourth session, it really started to feel like we were just a group of friends going ski-touring. The dynamic of mentee/mentor still existed, but respect was much more felt than formalized. At this point, our discussions began to be more nuanced, more informed, and quite honestly —pushed me to do more research at times.

Amidst conversations at the NWAC community potluck, the “sunny-pow” crew caught wind of the “adventurous-group’s” circumnavigation, and wanted a taste of adventure for themselves. With two feet of fresh pow on the ground, everyone wanted to take a turn breaking trail to get out to an unexplored corner of the map. Fully knowing how hard the skinning would be, we set out on an ‘adventure.’ The group learned a lot about skintrack setting, efficiency of navigation, topographical map reading, and buddy ski techniques in tight trees. We also got to experience the value of having the correct temperature wax for your boards, and a system for re-warming your skins when they start to lose their stick. All in all, the day was a success, and we got the adventure we were seeking. We even got to share in a collective brownie celebration as the sky darkened and the stars lit up the night.

The two-day crew had the great pleasure of double delicious lollipop tours, complete with soft snow, moderate avalanche danger, and sunny skies. We skied strictly north facing terrain and were able to piece together a variety of new runs for maximum enjoyment. Two of our teammates had back to back birthdays and in good style, they each got to ski untouched pow on their special day! We also had many small discussions around identifying pockets of wind slab, working the terrain on the way up to maximize powder skiing and visibility on the way down, decision making from the top of a line, and using the available navigation tools to identify subtleties in the terrain.

The “adventurous ladies crew,” once again brought their enthusiasm and hunger for adventure. The evening before, we all got online to come up with a plan for the following day. By 7am, we had already staged a car shuttle at valley bottom and were gearing up to set off into the mountains. Our route felt like a coming together of an entire season of reconnaissance. What we learned from all the days prior, really came into play. One thing we did differently on this day, was nail down a strict time plan to ensure we had ample time to accomplish our main objective, while giving us enough flexibility to play along the way. We added in some recent information I had gathered earlier that week while up at the mountain, and planned to go for it.

9 hours, 8 miles, and 6,000’ of skiing later, we were listening to the roar of the river and unlocking the car at valley bottom —eating gluten free peanut butter miso cookies! The entire day was composed of skiing only north facing lines, and every line was new terrain for all of us. One of the women in the group mentioned during one of our transitions that it was International Women’s Day. Woah! We all could hardly believe how awesome it was to be sharing such a magical experience with such rad women on such a beautiful and fitting day! This group definitely proved their tolerance for adversity and uncertainty when the final 300’ of our run took us into some pretty rugged bushwhacking and creek walking —and amazingly they were all still laughing and smiling. Like I said before… I found my people!

Debrief responses from Session Four:

On The Value of a Consistent Group:

“We have a great level of comfort with each other, and know about each other's lives, interests, partners etc. So not only have we learned about our ski skill levels, stamina, injuries, etc, but we can have some genuine quality time together on these days. Every tour I learn something new about everyone, or gain insight into their experiences and knowledge. Having a consistent group has allowed us to deepen our relationships, whicdh builds trust and also makes for some really fun days. We also all know we are down for an adventure challenge (and can handle it), which allows us to do some out of the box things. You are all rad women, and I am so lucky to be a part of this adventuresome bunch!”
“I have never liked touring with random groups, especially those that are put together last minute or that end up being really large. The value and benefits of having a consistent group are infinite! Knowing your group's communication styles, risk-tolerance, ambitions, goals, backcountry skills, and about who everyone is as an individual is invaluable in building mutual trust and respect. This has been my first opportunity to travel consistently in the backcountry with an all-female group, and it has been nothing short of amazing and so empowering. It has been such a privilege to get to know all of you this season and to have you as trusted backcountry partners and friends. Your support and encouragement have meant so much to me. I'm not sure if I would have skied most of the things we have this season if it hadn't been with all of you. <3”
“Having a consistent group has been huge! For me, trust really stands out - trust in how we make decisions, how we take care of ourselves in the mountains, how we take care of eachother. Communication has also been something I think about. Being with the same group has allowed me to grow more comfortable and practice more freely speaking my mind. Getting to know yall has helped with non-verbal communication too. I think we're better able to intuitively catch on to the group's "vibe" for a lack of a better word. Things like beacon checks at the beginning of the day and debriefs at the end flow naturally and don't feel stilted - just a part of how we communicate and ski.”

On Learnings:

“This course has exceeded my expectations in so many ways, and really shown me what a capable back-country traveler I've become. Prior to this I was almost strictly a follower, and feel like I didn't contribute much to primary decision making before or during tours. There is always more to learn and explore, but these days have given me the skills and confidence to lead more on my own once our set time together is up. And I hope we still get personal time to be together in the future!”
“I found it interesting that most of the snow we saw was stable on a “considerable” avalanche day. Before diving into avy knowledge, I would see considerable and assume anything can trigger an avalanche anywhere. But since we stayed out of wind-loaded areas and mostly under tree line, we got to ski stable deep powder.”
“I learned breaking trail in deep snow is hard and slow, and is a factor that needs to be considered in the overall travel time.. Definitely plan for slower travel! I also learned how to safely travel when the avalanche hazard is considerable. I've been getting a stronger sense of "What is avalanche terrain" and how to select the skin track path so we travel through the least consequential terrain possible.”
“My intention with being part of this was to really streamline my whole backcountry process and get out and see new terrain. Both of those goals have certainly been met. I feel much more capable of venturing into new terrain, assessing conditions and terrain for potential hazards (either safely engaging or avoiding them with terrain selection or tests). I have also gotten so much better at traveling uphill. I didn't even really realize before this course how much I was struggling with that or how much extra energy I was burning with poor technique. As you all know I've been plagued with some injuries in the past couple of years. I hadn't really entirely realized how hard I have been on myself to get back to the skill, stamina and confidence I had before. All of you have really helped me to realize how capable I am, that it doesn't always have to look perfect, and that I can do whatever I need to do to safely ski a line. At the bottom of our line, I felt so much gratitude and pride for sharing that first descent with all of you. I thought to myself, you skied a big line safely, it was fun and challenging, and next time I can come back and ski it to inspire :) This is an experience I've been wishing I could have for YEARS. This course has absolutely exceeded all of my expectations, thank you so much for creating such a special space for us to all learn and grow together!!!”
“I really appreciate the conversation we had about our feelings of stress in regard to the avalanche hazard ratings. Julz, you said it so well and I think that it is a great reminder to check in with yourself.”

On Community:

“I have thought so much about the idea of community this winter, specifically around skiing. Moving around a lot over the past few years has made community in a set location feel like a far off idea. This season, through this program in particular, I am gaining a larger sense of what it is to be involved in the backcountry community. It is so lovely skiing with yall. This has been such an open and welcoming community and has made skiing a true blast for me this winter. Although maybe not the reality of backcountry skiing (or skiing in general), it almost feels necessary that a sense of community is at the core of the sport. I love how this program has centered community within skiing for me. Thank you all so much!”
“We felt like a well-oiled machine yesterday from beginning to end. What a COOL thing we got to do! That couloir is something most people will never even know exists, and we freaking skied it top to bottom. And I definitely plan to do it again! I so appreciate everyone's attitudes, commitment, support, and sense of community. At no point yesterday was I having even a mediocre time, it was all fun, even in the woods flailing in devil's club. And the weather...and the pow...and those cookies...I'm still on cloud nine. I've been lucky in life to have great friends, but outside of [my partner], never ones that I've shared my obsessive love of the outdoors and winter with, particularly any female friends. In fact, most people often think I'm crazy for what I spent my free time and finances doing. This course, you ladies, and the others I've met through you have changed that for me, going beyond recreational and resort skiing and truly getting to bask in the absolute awe of the place we get to live. The more time I spend out there the more I want to explore, go farther, do multi-days, plan hut trips, climb mountains, drink it all in. I feel the reflection of that part of my soul when I am around women like you, that sense of wonder that we should never let disappear, and for that I am forever grateful. Thank you Julz for being brave and starting your company, for bringing us all together and being the catalyst for this community. Couldn't have picked a better way to spend international women's day if I tried, and I want to try to make that an annual tradition from now on!”

The final sessions for each group were full of small gratitudes and acknowledging the bonds that were forged, and the magic that was shared over the course of the season. One group was blessed with powder, although low visibility in the morning, the clouds lifted for some fun afternoon Bagley Basin laps. This day felt memorable because no one else was there. We had the whole basin to ourselves and that felt special —given how good the snow was! Before wrapping up for the day, we wrapped one of the mentees in a rescue sled and practiced dragging them out of the basin. We carry the rescue sled the entire season in case of an emergency, and everyone was interested to see how this piece of gear actually worked.

Another crew was gifted a warm April rain, which made skiing sound like a dumb idea. We pivoted to practicing multiple burial rescues, and then went to the North Fork Brewery for pizza and a tour planning session. It felt good to walk everyone through how I plan bigger missions, especially with the Cascade Alpine season beginning to open up, and the subsequent end of the public forecast. We used our final hours to really set everyone up for success going forward.

The double day group, doubled down, and opted to use their final two days for an overnight mission on the backside of table mountain. We packed overnight bags, food, fuel, and an assortment of shelter materials, and set out to the West side of Table Mountain. When we arrived at our planned campsite, the sun emerged from behind clouds and offered warmth and long-range views of Kulshan, as we dug our tent platforms and snow caves. In the evening glow, we skied a short lap in the glades below camp and then followed it up with one more run down a low angle half-pipe chute in the blue hue of dusk. The evening tempted to cloud over, but then the full moon shone through. Shadows stretched out from the forests’ edge, and the snow glittered in the vibrant light of the night. In our cook tent, someone brought fun disco lights to help set the vibe. What an incredible way to celebrate such an amazing season! We all retired to our respective snow caves and mega-mids while Kulshan kept a watchful eye over the crystal clear mountainscape of our temporary home for the night. In the morning, we sipped coffee and readied ourselves to venture out to some North Facing gladed tree skiing, where we were delighted with the turns we found. Everyone was energized by the entire experience, in addition to the high quality of the skiing, and we just kept skiing, until it was time to make our way out of the mountains. Cresting over the backside of Table Mountain, our descent into the basin was both novel, for most of us, and STILL POWDER SKIING! Laughter emanating from our regrouping spot in the bottom of the basin, we casually made our way to the cars. Filled with delight from a season of learning, growing, and enjoying the mountains with all our new friends.

There you have it. A bunch of words to attempt to describe a season on the snow that is mostly indescribable. The mountains offered us so many days of good skiing and interesting avalanche problems to observe, plenty of sun to get a good goggle tan going, and enough wind to chap the cheeks. The bar has been set pretty high in this first season —and I’m excited to see what is yet to come. Gratitude!!

If you came out and skied with me this season, THANK YOU for being a part of the journey, and for making this season a fun and memorable one! If you’re reading this to learn about Grounding Truth programs, AMAZING! Thanks for taking the time. If you’re interested in future offerings, please sign up for the newsletter on the homepage and don’t hesistate to reach out to me with questions at julieann@groundingtruth.com.

Stay tuned for reflections on the Spring 2023 Ski Mountaineering Course…

Remembering & Reflecting on a great first season

2023 Spring Ski Mountaineering Course Recap

Why Go To The Mountains?