The Why

Mountains are Women was born during a car ride during a rare day off from my guiding job in 2022. The sun as just beginning to dip behind the peaks and I clearly remember looking out the window at the Great Bear Wilderness reaching to both the West and East side of Glacier National Park and having the realization that the mountains and I were made up of the same things. We are both creations of divinity and connection. We both rise and fall in natural and institutionalized demolition. Existing in space, where as a woman and as an adult novice to many outdoor recreations, I was not taken seriously, by both my employers and peers, this realization gifted me with so much relief. That summer in particular had been really difficult. I found my voice when it came the sexism that both my female co-workers and I experienced with our employers, but there was always a feeling of guilt or craziness that came along with using my voice. Misogyny and the patriarchy were ingrained in me. I constantly felt crazy. I often wondered if the mountains felt crazy too. Our robustness has been questioned, we have been told to not allow our beings to age, to not recede, to not erode, to not change. We are also both rooted, powerful, strong, and we are both able to weather insurmountable amounts of change, and come out of them with grace. But the thing is, we do not need to be graceful, we get to come out of these moments in any way we want. We can emerge with rage, with love, with exhaustion, and the feelings we experience do not and will not ever equate to our worth as recreationalists’ in the mountains. We are allowed to feel it all, and we should feel it all.

In knowing the Mountains are Women and that I was made up of the same matter metaphorically or physically, I was able to begin believing that I am deserving of taking up space. I was and still am deserving of taking up space as a novice, intermediate, and expert. I was and still am deserving of taking up space as a hardcore athlete or an Apres queen.

I created this passion project, because I wanted women to know that there is space out there for them to take up in the outdoors, regardless of experience. I created this space in the hopes of letting every woman know that they are never too much, and that they are always enough. Thank you for being here.

With love,

Chloe

An evening well spent looking out at the Livingston Range that dances around the West Side of the park from Lake McDonald