Explore every episode of the podcast Women in Wild Places
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
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| Adaptive Alpinism, Ice Tools & Moose's Tooth with Kimber Cross | 20 Nov 2025 | 01:00:33 | |
In this episode of Women in Wild Places, I talk with alpinist and adaptive athlete Kimber Cross—a kindergarten teacher turned ice climber who built her own prosthetic tool and is now taking on major alpine routes like the Moose’s Tooth. We get into her journey from hiding her limb difference to becoming her own representation, the story behind her ice tool prosthetic, unconscious bias in adaptive sport, and how she balances teaching, training, and big mountain goals with her mantra: can’t → will → did. Connect with Kimber:
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| Mountain Biking, Hype Girls, and Life After Baby with Emily Jordan | 13 Nov 2025 | 00:40:54 | |
If you’ve ever looked at mountain biking and thought, that looks incredible, but also terrifying, this episode is for you. This week on Women in Wild Places, I talk with Emily Jordan, mountain biker, mom, brand leader, and Beacon, NY local, about what it means to find flow, community, and courage on the trail and in motherhood. Emily grew up in Portland, Oregon, hating the outdoors. A stolen commuter bike led her to her first mountain bike and eventually to hauling a 40-pound setup over the Tour de Mont Blanc. We talk about learning to ride through fear, finding “hype girls” who cheer each other on, and redefining adventure after becoming a parent. It’s a conversation about joy, risk, guilt, and doing the things that make you feel alive, even (and especially) after baby. 🌿 Listen & connect: | |||
| Rowing the Grand Canyon: Whitewater, Risk, & Mentorship | 06 Nov 2025 | 00:40:30 | |
River runner Jess Parks has rowed the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon 14 times, but she didn’t start out “outdoorsy.” Once a NYC crew rower surrounded by skyscrapers, a single road trip west changed her trajectory. In this episode, we talk about how she went from rowing in city rivers to guiding whitewater in Colorado, finding her home in Alaska, and building a life around big water, community, and mentorship. Jess shares how it feels to drop into the rapids with heart racing, muscles firing, everything else falling away, and how risk, awe, and mentorship intertwine on the river. We also explore what it means to be a woman at the oars, to teach others, and to recognize those once-in-a-lifetime canyon moments while they’re happening. If you’ve ever dreamed of rowing the Grand Canyon, chasing adventure, or saying yes before you feel ready — this one’s for you. Listen & Connect:
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| Women in Ultra Running: Grit, Community, and Trail Sisterhood | 30 Oct 2025 | 00:34:54 | |
Trail runners Sam Cash (@cruzoutside) and Kristi Confortin (@kristialexiis) join Gabriella to talk about courage, community, and finding belonging through movement. As leaders of Trail Sisters Catskills, they share how running together builds sisterhood and confidence in the mountains they call home. Trail Sisters is a nationwide organization. To learn more, follow @trailsisterscatskills and visit https://trailsisters.net/. Don’t miss an episode. Follow @womeninwildplaces, and visit womeninwildplaces.substack.com to join the community. Share your story for Trail Dispatch at womeninwildplaces@gmail.com. | |||
| Embracing the Outdoors and My Story on Denali - Meet Your Host Gabriella | 23 Oct 2025 | 00:14:27 | |
In this first episode of Women in Wild Places, I share my journey of climbing Denali and what it taught me about strength, self-doubt, and belonging. From months of training and gear challenges to moments of awe high above the clouds, this experience reminded me how much growth comes from stepping outside your comfort zone. I talk about what it’s like to be part of the 19% of women who climb Denali, how community support can carry you through hard moments, and why connecting with nature brings out our deepest sense of life force and purpose. | |||
| Photographing Love in Changing Landscapes with Abbi Hearne | 04 Dec 2025 | 01:00:13 | |
Adventure photographer Abbi Hearne joins me to talk about what it means to photograph love in landscapes that are literally changing beneath our feet. We get into her early years building a life off the traditional path, her deep connection to Alaska’s glaciers, and how climate grief and her father’s terminal illness became intertwined. We also talk about raising her daughter in wild places, returning to the same canyons and lakes year after year, and why she treats landscapes like characters in her work. This is a conversation about love, loss, presence, and choosing a life that’s true to you. Connect with Abbi
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| Staying Adventurous in Early Motherhood: My Honest Take | 26 Nov 2025 | 00:25:09 | |
Staying adventurous after having a baby is one of the questions I get asked most so in this solo episode, I’m sharing my honest take:
If you’re pregnant, postpartum, or simply wondering how motherhood and outdoor identity overlap, this is a grounded, real look at staying connected to wild places while raising a little one. Connect with Women in Wild Places
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| Making History on Yosemite's Triple Crown with Kate Kelleghan | 11 Dec 2025 | 01:05:04 | |
Speed climbing the Yosemite Triple Crown, El Capitan, Half Dome, and Mount Watkins in under 24 hours, has always lived in the realm of legendary, and until recently, it was something dominated entirely by men. In this episode, I sit down with speed climber and designer Kate Kelleghan, who, along with her partner Laura Pineau, became the first women to complete the Yosemite Triple Crown in under 24 hours. We talk about how Kate was once an emo art kid who walked the mile on purpose who became an obsessive trail runner and then a climber. She shares how joining the Colorado Mountain Club and Yosemite Search and Rescue (YoSAR) gave her mentors, partners, and friends who took her big goals seriously. We dig into the nerdy side of speed climbing like spreadsheets, Coros data, gear notes in erasable pen and what it feels like to climb El Cap through the night with only a headlamp bubble around you. We also explore what it means to be a “competitive feminist,” to chase an audacious, history-making goal in a male-dominated space, and how Kate is thinking about mentoring the next wave of women climbers. This one is about big walls, big math, and even bigger belief. She shares updates about the Triple Crown documentary, guiding trips, and plenty of behind-the-scenes moments here:
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| Racing Sled Dogs Through the Alaskan Wilderness with Kristy & Anna Berington | 18 Dec 2025 | 00:52:50 | |
Kristy and Anna are twin mushers who race sled dogs across Alaska’s most remote wilderness. Racing sled dogs across Alaska’s vast wilderness is one of the most physically demanding and logistically complex endurance sports in the world. It means weeks of preparation, months of training, and days spent moving through snow, wind, darkness, and isolation alongside a team that cannot speak, but communicates constantly. In this episode, I sit down with identical twin sisters Kristy and Anna of Seeing Double Sled Dog Racing. Based in rural Alaska, they live and work together caring for, training, and racing with 32 sled dogs. Kristy and Anna share how a childhood fascination with mushing turned into a full-time lifestyle, how they found their way to Alaska, and why sled dog racing is not just a sport, but a long-term commitment to animals, routine, and place. We talk about what it actually takes to train a sled dog team leading up to hundred-mile days, how race days unfold from the starting line to remote checkpoints, and what it feels like to move through the wilderness when it seems like you might be the only people on earth. Kristy and Anna explain how they communicate with their dogs through body language and instinct, how they make hard decisions in the dogs’ best interest, and why trust is the foundation of everything they do. We also explore what many people misunderstand about sled dog racing, including why the dogs want to do this work, how they live fully in the present, and what it means to survive together as a team. This episode is about endurance, care, sisterhood, and the intelligence required to move responsibly through wild places. Follow Kristy and Anna and meet their dogs here:
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| Exploring the World Beneath Our Feet: Caves, Beetles & 80% of Life We Haven’t Met Yet with Dr. Iva Njunjić | 23 Feb 2026 | 00:48:33 | |
In this episode of Women in Wild Places, host Gabriella sits down with Dr. Iva Njunjić, a cave biologist, National Geographic Explorer, and co-founder of Taxon Expeditions, to explore the hidden worlds beneath our feet. Dr. Iva studies life in extreme underground environments, focusing on cave-dwelling insects and biodiversity in some of the most remote places on Earth. Her work has taken her to Europe’s deep cave systems, rainforests in Borneo, the Amazon and more. She shares how a childhood visit to a cave at age 13 sparked her lifelong passion for exploration and science, and what it takes physically, mentally, and technicallyto access places few humans ever see. In this conversation, we discuss:
Dr. Iva also explains how Taxon Expeditions allows everyday people to join real scientific research expeditions and help document new species around the world. This episode is for anyone interested in conservation, biodiversity, cave exploration, citizen science, environmental protection, and reconnecting with nature above ground and below. 🎧 Listen now to learn how paying attention to the smallest creatures can change how we see the planet. Links & Resources 🔬 Dr. Iva Njunjić
🌍 Taxon Expeditions
🎙️ Women in Wild Places Podcast Substack: https://substack.com/@womeninwildplaces? Cover Image by Sotiris Kountouras / Taxon Expeditions | |||
| Hunting for Food and Freedom with Christie Green | 10 Feb 2026 | 00:58:03 | |
What does it mean to hunt as a deeply embodied, emotional, and relational practice? In this episode of Women in Wild Places, I sit down with writer and landscape architect Christie Green to explore hunting as a path to connection: to food, to place, to the animal world, and to our own bodies. Christie shares her journey of beginning to hunt later in life after growing up in Alaska, and how what started as a desire to harvest her own food became a personal and creative practice. Together, they talk about the sensory world of the hunt, the moment of deciding whether to take a life, the paradox of grief and gratitude, and what it feels like to see your own anatomy reflected in the body of an animal. We talk about why the topic has become so polarizing, and how these charged topics can actually open space for deeper dialogue, humility, and mutual respect. This is a conversation about nuance, belonging, and paying attention. Connect with Christie Green
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| Hotshotting and the Myth of Control: Wildfire, Community, and Creativity with Amanda Monthei | 21 Jan 2026 | 00:57:05 | |
In this episode of Women in Wild Places, I’m joined by Amanda Monthei, a former hotshot wildland firefighter, writer, and the creator of the Life With Fire podcast, for a deep, thoughtful conversation about wildfire, creativity, and what it means to live and work inside powerful & uncontrollable landscapes. Amanda spent multiple seasons working on fire crews and hotshotting, witnessing massive wildfires most people will never experience up close. Through years on the line, she came to understand something many of us resist: fire is never really “in control,” and the idea that humans can fully control it is largely a myth. We talk about what it’s actually like to live in survival mode all summer, the nervous-system crash that comes in the off season, and the emotional and psychological toll of increasingly long, intense fire seasons. Amanda shares what it means to see communities burn, to work inside catastrophe, and to carry that weight long after the season ends. We also explore her transition from firefighter to storyteller, and her current chapter pursuing an MFA in Creative Nonfiction at the University of Montana and returning to craft, attention, and creative practice as a way of making sense of the world. We talk about writing, observation, landscape, and how learning to really see the places we live changes how we tell stories. This episode is about hotshotting, the creative process, and how living with uncontrollable forces shapes the way we pay attention, write, and understand our place in the world. It’s also about humility, limits, fire ecology, and what wildfire teaches us about being human in a changing climate. Connect with Amanda
Connect with Women in Wild Places If you loved this episode, please consider following the show, leaving a rating or review, and sharing it with someone who loves wild places, good stories, and thoughtful conversations about the world we live in. Note: Toward the end of the episode, Amanda accidentally say “prescribed fire councils” when she meant to say “prescribed burn associations.” | |||
| Making Art from Fire and Ice: Glacier Aerialism, Wildfire, and Climate Hope with Sasha Galitzki | 06 Jan 2026 | 00:44:19 | |
Performing aerial acrobatics suspended over glaciers sounds like a scene from a dream. For aerial artist and climate advocate Sasha Galitzki, it’s home. In frozen landscapes where ice shifts and snow falls, Sasha brings movement to places that are disappearing faster than we can comprehend, using art to help us feel what we can’t ignore. In this episode, we talk about how Sasha stumbled into pole dancing in her twenties, fell in love with the feeling of flying, and eventually combined her two great passions, the outdoors and aerial art, into breathtaking performances on glaciers and ice. She shares the logistics behind climbing anchors, rigging in the cold, and planning choreography down to her fingertips. We talk about risk, safety, and why grace means even more when conditions are harsh. We also dive into the story behind her new film Embers: losing her home in the Jasper wildfire, returning to the ice year after year to witness glaciers recede, and how grief transformed into purpose. Cover art photo by Kris Andres @kristopherandres Watch + follow Sasha’s work here:
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| Defying Gravity with Steph Davis: Free Soloing, Base Jumping, and Living a Life that Fits | 09 Mar 2026 | 01:09:01 | |
In this episode of Women in Wild Places, host Gabriella sits down with Steph Davis — professional climber, base jumper, wingsuit pilot, and one of the most accomplished female alpinists in the world. Steoh has freed El Cap in a day and the Salathe Wall, free soloed the Longs Peak Diamond and put up first ascents in Patagonia, Pakistan, and the Arctic. What makes this conversation so compelling is how accessible Steph makes it all feel. We talk about what it's like to stand at the edge of a cliff before a base jump, how she thinks about fear and decision-making in high-stakes environments, and why she believes the goal isn't to be fearless , but to be present. We also get into her unconventional path from classical pianist to professional climber, what it was like living out of a car to climb full time, her years of expedition climbing in Patagonia and beyond, and the mindset it takes to free solo big walls in Yosemite. Whether you climb, jump, or simply want to live more intentionally, this episode will shift the way you think about risk, intuition, and staying true to yourself. Find Steph Davis: 🌐 Website: https://stephdavis.co/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/highsteph/ 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stephdavisclimb/ Steph's Books: 📖 High Infatuation: A Climber's Guide to Love and Gravity — essays on climbing, life, love, and risk 📖 Learning to Fly: A Memoir of Hanging On and Letting Go — her memoir on skydiving, wingsuiting, BASE jumping, and rediscovering purpose through flight Follow Women in Wild Places: 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womeninwildplaces/ 🎙️ Host: https://www.instagram.com/outsidegabs/ In this episode we cover: free soloing, base jumping, wingsuit flying, rock climbing, El Capitan, Patagonia climbing, women in adventure sports, fear and decision-making, intuition, living simply, following your passion, expedition climbing, backcountry flying, Moab Utah, women climbers Cover image taken by by Jimmy Chin. | |||
| Skiing the Catskills High Peaks with Julie McGuire - Backcountry Skiing, Spiritual Awakening & One Woman's Solo Record | 18 Mar 2026 | 01:05:37 | |
Julie McGuire is a South Bronx high school English teacher, backcountry skier, and the first woman to ski all 33 of the Catskills High Peaks — mountains that top out at 4,200 feet and are far more rugged, technical, and unforgiving than most people realize. In this episode, Julie joins host Gabriella in a conversation that's as much about inner wilderness as outer wilderness. She shares how the abrupt end of her marriage sent her into the Catskills and how skiing solo through these dense, cliffed-out New York mountains became a spiritual practice, a healing journey, and eventually a record-breaking achievement documented in her award-winning short film, Queen of the Catskills. We talk about backcountry skiing in the Northeast, what makes the Catskills so technically challenging compared to Western and Alpine terrain, skinning up steep bushwhack terrain with no snowpack, following your intuition in the mountains and in life, the spiritual experience of solo wilderness adventures, and bringing her South Bronx students into wild places for the first time. Whether you're a skier, a hiker, a Catskills lover, or someone who's ever rebuilt their life one mountain at a time, this one's for you. Connect with Julie:📸 Instagram: @queenofthecatskillsny🎬 Queen of the Catskills — film still on tour, link in show notes Connect with Women in Wild Places:📸 Podcast Instagram: @womeninwildplaces🌿 Host Instagram: @outsidegabs🎒 Gear Lists & Favorites: shopmy.us/outsidegabs💬 Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share with a friend who belongs in wild places. Topics: backcountry skiing New York | Catskills High Peaks | ski touring Northeast | women in the outdoors | solo female adventurer | Catskill 3500 Club | wilderness and healing | outdoor education South Bronx | Queen of the Catskills film | ski mountaineering | nature and spirituality | women who ski | Catskills hiking | upstate New York adventure | |||
| Building a Life Around the Sea with Salmon Sisters Claire and Emma: Commercial Fishing, Design, and Environmental Advocacy | 15 Apr 2026 | 00:53:16 | |
Claire and Emma of Salmon Sisters join us to pull back the curtain on what it takes to get wild Alaskan salmon from the water to your plate. Growing up on a remote off-grid homestead at the tip of the Alaskan Peninsula, fishing commercially with their father, and building a women-owned small business over the last decade, these two sisters have become some of Alaska's most compelling voices for sustainable fishing, fisheries advocacy, and connection to place. In this episode we cover:
Find Salmon Sisters at salmonsisters.com and follow them on Instagram @salmonsisters. Find host Gabriella on Instagram at @outsidegabs and the podcast at @womeninwildplaces 🏜️ Join Us in Bears Ears This October This fall, Women in Wild Places is teaming up with KMAC Guides for a five day backpacking trip through Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. We will hike sandstone canyons, explore ancient Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings, sleep under some of the darkest skies in the lower 48, and build real community with a group of women who showed up for something that called to them. Optional yoga daily, structured community moments throughout, and KMAC guides making sure every experience level is supported every step of the way. Space is very limited. | |||
| Staying Weird and Raising Legends with Julie from The Mothership Collective | 02 Jun 2026 | 00:46:05 | |
Julie Bacon, founder of the Mothership Collective, joins Gabriella to talk about building one of the outdoor adventure world's most beloved communities for active moms, and the real journey that sparked it all. Julie was a mountain biker, bikepacker, and adventure-lover who rode the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route and explored the world before becoming a mom. When she got pregnant with her daughter and couldn't find a single resource for women who wanted to keep pushing their limits outside, she built one herself. In this episode, we talk about:
This fall, Women in Wild Places is heading to Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah for a guided women's adventure trip exploring sacred red rock country, and doing exactly what Julie and Gabriella talk about in this episode: keeping the spark alive. Spots are limited, sign up here. Follow the Mothership Collective: @the.mothership.collective on Instagram, or join the Facebook community to connect with thousands of outdoor-loving mothers worldwide. Follow Women in Wild Places: @womeninwildplaces Keywords: outdoor moms, adventure motherhood, active pregnancy, women in the outdoors, trail running moms, mountain biking pregnancy, motherhood community, Mothership Collective, women's outdoor community, adventure parenting | |||
| Running, Climbing, and Traveling in Utah - My First Trip Without Baby + Family | 20 May 2026 | 00:30:48 | |
I went solo to Utah for the first time since becoming a mom and came back with bruised hands, a summit, and a renewed sense of self. In this solo episode, I recap my whirlwind trip through Moab and Indian Creek: racing the Thelma & Louise 15K through the Behind the Rocks desert, diving into a women's crack climbing clinic, and topping out on Ancient Art at Fisher Towers (the same area where I got engaged the year before.) I talk about mom guilt, the anxiety of leaving my baby for the first time, and what it felt like to remember who I was before becoming a parent. Topics covered: postpartum identity, crack climbing basics, trail racing culture, Indian Creek, Canyonlands, Fisher Towers, women-only outdoor spaces, and getting back to adventure on your own terms. Ready to experience Utah for yourself? Join me, KMAC Guides, and Women in Wild Places on a guided 5-day backpacking trip to Bears Ears National Monument — September 27th, all levels welcome, spots are limited. Keywords: postpartum adventure, women outdoor community, crack climbing, Indian Creek climbing, Moab trail race, Thelma and Louise race, Fisher Towers, Ancient Art tower, Bears Ears backpacking, women in the outdoors, mom identity, outdoor motherhood | |||