Angela Hawse - President of the American Mountain Guide Association

The SnowBrains Podcast

Angela Hawse - President of the American Mountain Guide Association | Brought to you by Ikon Pass

Episode #19 of The SnowBrains Podcast

“I was one of the rescuers first on the scene to a guy who had fallen over 1000 feet. Off of Fitzroy. And he survived to tell the tale which is remarkable. But it took us three days with an international rescue effort, and it took us three days to get this kid down from where he landed. He was unconscious the entire time. It was certainly a harrowing experience where there was considerable risk to the rescuers."

- Angela Hawse on The SnowBrains Podcast

My guest today is Angela Hawse - the president of the American Mountain Guide Association or AMGA. Angela has over 30-years of mountain guiding experience and is a fully certified IFMGA mountain guide. Angela is the 6th of only 11 women to have ever been fully certified in the USA. In 2011, Angela was awarded the "AMGA Guide of the Year". Angela is a senior instructor team member for the AMGA and was the first woman to join their elite group of instructors in 2006. She's been on the AMGA board of directors for over 10 years. She's been the lead guide for Ice Axe Expeditions Antarctica ski trip for the past four years. Angela also guides heli-skiing for Telluride Helitrax and she guides all over the world. As a minority in a male-dominated profession, Angela does her best to mentor and encourage other women getting into the outdoors and guiding. She was a former co-owner of Chicks Climbing and Skiing and has been a key player in their work teaching women self-reliance in technical mountain sports since 2000. Angela is engaged in inclusion and diversity work with the AMGA and several of her sponsors that are making positive change in the outdoor industry.

In this episode, Angela & Miles discuss what it's like to be the president of the American Mountain Guide Association (AMGA), being selected as the AMGA Guide of the Year, inclution in the mountains, guiding all over the world, heli ski guiding for Telluride Helitrax, getting fully IFMGA guide certified, climbing Mt. Everest, Avalanches, climate change, and more.

Angela Hawse answers these potent questions:

• There are only 138 fully certified guides in the USA and only 13 of those are women. Why does the USA have so few fully certified guides as opposed to Europe and other parts of the world?
• What has it been like being president of the AMGA and what has it been like being president during a major crisis like COVID?
• What can we all d