Stepping Out to Step Back

A local woman's personal account of how a recent ski trip redefined her Relationship to Risk 

This past April, Maddie Crowell was asked to join fellow Salomon teammates for a fly-in basecamp expedition. Maddie and two other women set out to ski in the Alaska Range for the first time, to make a film and see  if they could hold their own in a place they’d only dreamed of skiing in. With ambitions to step out of the classic “follower roles,” they hoped to be their own guides, make their own decisions and assess the terrain on their own terms. The team was quickly humbled by the glaciated terrain in a remote and completely new zone.

In this presentation, Maddie reflects on how a number of variables can have a domino effect on risk management. From previous experiences, past trauma, expectations, social comparison, team dynamics, to the pressure to film, Maddie’s risk tolerance was thrown for a loop and she had to redefine what risk management meant for her.

 

4SAW is excited to host the San Juan premiere of this amazing film.

Maddie Crowell was born and raised on Hastings Mesa, just outside Telluride, Colorado. Growing up with the San Juans in her backyard she has always had a work hard, play hard mentality. Her parents strapped a pair of skis on her feet at the age of 2 and there was no looking back. While she raced competitively in high school, she switched her focus to big mountain and backcountry skiing when she moved to British Columbia to attend university. After graduating from the University of British Columbia, Maddie spent three summers working as a field biologist on Vancouver Island. She returned to Colorado in 2017 and decided to call Telluride her home base again. Since returning stateside she has guided ski mountaineering in California, powder skiing in Japan and cat-skiing/backcountry skiing locally around Telluride. She now splits her time working as a mountain guide on Denali in Alaska and as a heli-ski/backcountry guide in the San Juans. When she’s not guiding skiing in the winter Maddie also teaches avalanches courses and is a member of the Salomon Ambassador Ski Team. She is currently on the AMGA track and is an Assistant Ski, & Apprentice Alpine, and Rock guide. Maddie recently put down roots in Ophir and plans to build a home with her partner Will so they can continue to explore the center of the San Juans for years to come.