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Please use this link to join us: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83672809395

Why is there a lack of diversity in mountain sports and what can we do about it?

 Join us for Tselane Mead’s WAAC Alpine Stories Talk, Diversity and Inclusion in Mountain Sports where she will be sharing stories gathered of a diverse group of women, trying to understand better the barriers to uptake in high mountain adventures and what we can do as a community to make our passion for the mountains more inclusive. Tselane, a climbing, skiing and mountaineering woman of colour, is passionate about helping other women of all backgrounds break barriers, gain confidence and take on a more adventurous lifestyle. Please join this talk to learn and become a part of the conversation and solution!

Tselane is an emergency nurse from Sheffield who is also a qualified ski instructor. She works winters as a nurse/ski instructor for a ski school in the Swiss alps and has spent periods in Chamonix developing ski touring and mountaineering skills. Her aspiration is to become an expedition medic one day.

Save the date in your calendar!
Please use this link to join us: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83672809395

In All That Glitters: A Climbers Journey through Addiction and Depression, world-renowned ice climber Margo Talbot shares her compelling story of healing and self-discovery amid the frozen landscapes of the planet. Rescued from the depths of drug addiction and crime by the lure of climbing frozen waterfalls, Margo rises from the brink of suicidal depression in a jail cell to being envied by a client in Antarctica for having a “dream life”.

In her talk for Women’s Alpine Adventure Club, Margo shares her story of healing and redemption; a story about losing oneself, and then finding one’s way back home. And then brings us right up to date with the work she’s doing now - both in sharing the tools of overcoming depression and anxiety and sharing the activity that literally saved her life, with others now in similar situations.

As always, we will have a question and answer session with Margo so you can reach out to her with anything personal you’d like to share or any advice you’d like to hear. We can’t wait to hear Margo’s story and meet her in person!

Bio: Margo Talbot is an author, speaker and coach based in Canmore, Alberta. She is a sponsored ice climber, and has taught clinics all over North America. Her work has taken her from the High Arctic to Antarctica, guiding clients on expeditions to the South Pole and Antarctica’s tallest peak, Mt. Vinson. 

She was also a finalist at the 2011 Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival with her book All That Glitters: A Climber’s Journey Through Addiction and Depression and has a TEDx talk on recovery and mental health. She also works with organizations and associations looking to enhance workplace wellbeing and runs learning programs for youth-at-risk battling addiction.

Join the talk by clicking this link: https://zoom.us/j/94372550400

Wild Ski Mountaineering, Canada’s highest peak and type two fun pulk adventures. Join Iona Pawson’s Alpine Story, Passion for Pulk, to be virtually whisked away into a winter world of exploration, pulk pulling style. In this talk, Iona will share how she developed her ski touring skills and gained the confidence to go on self sufficient ski expeditions all over the world. In particular, she will focus on her most recent trips, including Mount Logan, the highest mountain in Canada, and trips to Scandinavia. Whilst most associate Sweden with cross country skiing, Norway is now on most skier’s bucket list of places to visit. Having traversed the Lyngen peninsular in a way that few would even consider during the winter months, she is here to share her stories and top tips. Iona’s trips might not be most people’s idea of a holiday, but they are definitely an adventure!

Iona is a self confessed ski mountaineering obsessive. Having learnt to ski aged 10, she began her ski touring adventures at the age of 16. Never far away from the great outdoors, most of her summer holidays were spent going trekking and spending time in nature. These early adventures sowed the seed for a lifetime and career in the mountains. Iona is now a certified Mountaineering & Climbing Instructor and an International Mountain Leader. Based in North Wales during the summer she works at Plas Y Brenin, the National Mountain Centre, and then tends to disappear off somewhere snowy in the winter.

Join the talk by clicking this link at 7pm BST: https://zoom.us/j/94372550400

Six big routes, hard earned lessons and Alpine inspiration. Join us for Lou Reynold’s Alpine Stories talk, Grand Courses, to hear her entertaining story of her apprenticeship in the mountains. Without a mentor or a climbing partner who knew the Alps well, Lou had to build up her experience and knowledge step by step. Her talk will take us on a tour across the French, Italian and Swiss Alps. Transporting us all onto the inspiring big faces and routes which were her greatest teachers. She will share some of the more obscure lessons she learned along the way and aims to inspire us to more Alpine adventures when we are able to get back into the mountains.

Lou Reynolds is a Devon born, Scotland based aspirant British Mountain Guide who works as an AMI Mountaineering and Ski instructor and guide (Summer & Winter) across the UK; https://loureynolds.blogspot.com. She specialises in the development of her client’s skills, sufficiency and confidence. Her passion for her work is fed by her love of helping people experience mountain environments and adventures that they would not be able to otherwise.

Join the talk by clicking this link: https://zoom.us/j/94372550400

Unclimbed peaks, TV personalities and crossing glacial rivers in their knickers. Join us for Tamsin Gay’s talk, ‘Undiscovered Arctic’, where she shares stories of guiding Steve Backshall and Aldo Kane in Jameson land in remote Eastern Greenland over two weeks for the filming of an episode of the BBC Series ‘Undiscovered Worlds.’ What happens when a tv production crew and a newly formed team of mountain guides take on a serious and engaging mountaineering objective? Log-in for this behind-the-scenes peek of the melding of two totally different professions on a proper adventure.

Tamsin Gay is an IFMGA Mountain Guide but prefers to be known as an aunt (to two nieces she adores), a sister, a daughter, a loving friend, a socialist and lover of bright colours and funny stuff. Whether she is at work or not she can be found propelling herself through the mountains; enthusiastic whatever the conditions are. Her obsession with all aspects of mountaineering means that her combination of skills allow her to have adventures in mountain ranges all around the globe. Having fled France where she had planned to be based before the Covid-19 lockdown, she is currently based in Scotland near Edinburgh - on the farm where she spent her childhood. She is a great supporter of WAAC and has guided at both of our recent meets. We can’t wait to share adventures with her again soon!