2026 Hilaree Nelson Professional Development Program Recipients

Growing up in New Mexico, skiing was a once-a-year family trip, something joyful and magical but never enough to build real skills. My adult journey into the mountains has been hard fought, saving for my own trips, learning from videos, digging pits, reading forecasts, and taking courses wherever I was stationed in the military. Moving every two years made it nearly impossible to build a community, find partners, or feel truly rooted. Often, paid courses were my only way to find reliable partners and explore the backcountry, and while I’m grateful for those experiences, the costs have been incredibly limiting.My background as an Oceanography Officer and SAR swimmer for the Navy taught me to operate in high stress, complex environments and to lead when conditions are uncertain. In so many ways, I’m well equipped to get out and lead in the backcountry, but it has still felt like an insurmountable barrier to pass through. So many courses and certifications, so much time, and so much money. Throughout my career, I have often been the “only” in a room. I want so badly to help other women avoid being the only, and avoid feeling left out or limited because they are forced to choose between going out with a group of men they don’t know or not going at all.This season, I worked as a ski instructor and plan to complete my AIARE Level 2, continue submitting snow observations, and spend as many days as possible learning in the mountains. I am passionate about helping women and girls feel confident in the mountains, and I hope to pay forward the mentorship and community this scholarship represents.

I am unbelievably grateful to be receiving this scholarship that will be going towards an all-women 6-day Baker Koma Kulshan mountaineering course. Throughout my career as a guide and ski instructor, the noise of my own brain has fed me narratives of inadequacy, both in knowledge and skill. Fortunately, my love of skiing and the outdoors has helped me push through my fears to keep getting out there, which allowed me to find my queer community. This community helped me deepen my connection to nature and outdoor recreation, while also providing me with the space to develop confidence. To me, I am a better and stronger friend through my outdoor community and am excited to create space for more women and girls. In the modern age with AI and social media, it is vital to encourage connection with nature and self, showing young girls that they belong in outdoor spaces. The best way to inspire is by taking action. As a middle school science teacher, I can see the impact that these barriers have on young girls. Barriers seem insurmountable when you have no idea how to approach them, but there is an importance in working with young girls and providing inspiration. I was inspired by greats like Hilaree Nelson, who paved the way for women like me. Now, with this scholarship, I am excited to be taking a course to develop the confidence and skills needed to create an interdisciplinary curriculum in science, humanities, and leadership revolving around snow science, climate change, and local advocacy in Washington. This women-only mountaineering course is a pivotal step in the process to bring back my experience to my students. Inspiration is a cycle; others have inspired me through seeing the possibilities they have created to push myself further. I want to learn skills that will help me be a stronger guide and advocate for our changing Earth. As someone who is heavily involved in both teaching environmental science and wilderness guiding, learning skills that will allow me to both study and recreate on glaciers is the next step for me. I want to push myself, always strive for more, and keep learning. It’s what I ask of my students as well as myself.

Being part of the Hilaree Nelson Tecnica Blizzard Development Program and taking the Rigging for Rescue Rope Rescue 1 course this year is a very exciting opportunity for me to become a more knowledgeable and competent ski patroller, trainer, and female role model at Aspen Highlands. Our ski area has a lot of steep terrain where rope rescue procedures are often important and necessary, so this course is very relevant to where I work. I am the training coordinator at Aspen Highlands and am responsible for training new ski patrollers, as well as coordinating on-going training for our experienced patrollers. This course will enable me to provide better training opportunities for all ski patrollers so that everyone can develop and improve their proficiency at rope rescue techniques and applications.I believe all ski patrollers help the people in our communities develop an appreciation for skiing, mountains, and nature, and I also believe that my influence as a female ski patroller can empower other women to follow their own passions in the mountains. Growing up in the mountains of Colorado, I've been a skier for most of my life and have faced various obstacles as I’ve progressed in backcountry skiing, ski mountaineering, and my career as a female ski patroller. These include finding the right mentors, handling pressure, facing judgment/criticism as my ambitions grew, and securing funding for my goals. Hilaree Nelson was a huge inspiration of mine through the years as I ventured into the world of skiing on 7000 and 8000 meter peaks, and she taught me that female ski mountaineers are just as capable of achieving great accomplishments in the mountains as men.

I want to emphasize that the mountains are for everyone. There is an outing or objective to suit almost everyone and the mountains have so much more to offer than summits. I want to thank Blizzard-Tecnica for working to reduce barriers to access the mountains and careers in the snow and avalanche industry for women. We know that women provide valuable contributions to risk management teams. Research into human factors tells us that women and those traveling with women are less likely to experience an avalanche incident. Yet many times getting a seat at the table in morning meetings, getting assigned work, being promoted to positions of leadership all can feel like such an uphill battle. The tide feels every changing with real optimistic changes happening at specific operations and within the industry as a whole but the progress can feel slow and even regressed at times. The W2W is bringing direct action to these challenges by providing support and funding to developing snow and avalanche professionals like myself. My goal as a guide and instructor is to be the teacher I wish I had when I was learning to backcountry ski and climb. I want workplaces to be easier to navigate for the women that come after me.

I learned to ski as an adult in 2021 and immediately loved it. Shortly, thereafter I decided I wanted to be a ski instructor. I loved the job, but was intimidated by playing catch up to people who had been skiing their whole life, certification examiners with clear biases against women, and prohibitive costs associated with skiing. This led me to help restart Women's Clinics at my home resort and become a member of the PSIA Women and Families Task Force. Receiving this scholarship is not only a huge honor, but will give me the opportunity to take my PSIA Level 2 certification exams and prep courses. Getting this Certification will allow me to instruct at a high enough level that I can offer a broader scope of instruction in the Women’s Clinics and expand what we can do. I know that having opportunities to attend women’s clinics, learn from women who have gone through certification, and just getting to chat with other women who ski has been immensely helpful to my progression and confidence as well as helped me see ski instructing as a long term career. With these clinics and certification, I want to create infrastructure to facilitate that for other women and femmes in snowsports.

I am deeply grateful to be a recipient of the Hilaree Nelson Blizzard Tecnica Scholarship. This support enabled me to take my Avalanche Pro 2, an important step in continuing my professional development and taking on more responsibility in the avalanche education world. Beyond easing a significant financial barrier, this scholarship feels like a meaningful vote of confidence, one that affirms both my commitment to this work and the path I am building within it.The Pro 2 is a step toward greater responsibility in avalanche education and will allow me to take on more leadership, mentorship, and instructional roles. I am especially passionate about teaching women and femme-focused courses (and feel lucky that this is the majority of my avalanche education work!), which I see as powerful spaces for building confidence, fostering trust, and creating strong, supportive learning communities. These environments not only improve learning outcomes but also help shift who feels welcome, capable, and seen in the backcountry.Alongside avalanche education, I work as an outdoor educator and high school science teacher, leading multi-day winter camping and backcountry skiing expeditions for high schoolers. Some of the most meaningful work I do is showing up as a queer woman in the outdoors and seeing the impact that visibility has on my female and femme students. Representation matters, and creating spaces where students can see themselves reflected in leadership roles helps build confidence, belonging, and a sense of possibility. I am deeply thankful for this scholarship, and I am committed to using this education to support, mentor, and inspire the next generation of backcountry users.

Being in backcountry spaces has shaped who I am. They have asked me to grow, to trust myself, and to step more fully into the identities I hold, even when mountain culture has not always made space for them. I found skiing at 22 with no outdoor background. In a slightly backwards fashion, I learned to ski in the backcountry first, thanks to patient mentors. I learned in powder and trees, often with my skins still on, falling in love with the movement and the way it connected me to the landscape. From then on, I wanted to dive deeper. Over time, I built confidence through studying terrain, snow science, and decision-making. These mountains are where I found my voice.This scholarship will allow me to pursue my PRO-1 and step into teaching avalanche education. I want to be a visible reflection for those who rarely see themselves represented in this space, especially women and underrepresented communities. Recreational avalanche courses are often someone’s first experience in an intimidating environment. If the instructor does not reflect your identity, belonging can feel out of reach. Avalanche education is not just about digging pits or reading forecasts. It is about learning to read the landscape, trust your intuition, and take part in critical decisions. I want to pass that confidence forward.For me, snow has always meant more. As a multi-day river guide, I see how shifting snowpack reshapes our watersheds. Snow is not just recreation; it defines water across the West. I want to bridge snow science with conversations about how our changing winters are affecting water supply, river health, and the policies that shape how water is managed. Understanding snow means shaping a more resilient future.

My name is Malea Jordan, and I’m a ski patroller and search and rescue avalanche dog handler in the Lake Tahoe, California. Everyday I work in an environment embracing adventure and fun but demands respect. Keeping people safe and our community close is my main objective. By my side is Ripp, my search and rescue avalanche dog. What started as a bond between a person and a puppy has grown into a partnership built on trust, teamwork, and countless hours of training. Together we spend our days learning, practicing, and preparing so that if the mountains ever demand it, we’re ready to help bring someone home. Watching Ripp work is a reminder of how powerful that partnership between humans and dogs can be.Our training journey has been made possible in part through the Hilaree Nelson Professional Development Scholarship, an opportunity I’m incredibly grateful for. Hilaree’s legacy represents courage, leadership, and a deep love for the mountains values that inspire so many women working in mountain spaces. Being supported through this scholarship allows me to continue developing my skills alongside Ripp while carrying forward the spirit of mentorship and opportunity for women in the outdoors.Ski patrol and mountain rescue have traditionally been male-dominated spaces, but that is changing. I’m proud to be part of a growing community of strong, capable women who are showing up, doing the work, and helping protect the people who come to the mountains we love.For me, this work is about more than rescue. It’s about community. It’s about respect for the mountains. And it’s about the belief that when we support one another, whether through mentorship, teamwork, or simply showing up that we can make these spaces stronger and more inclusive for the next generation.When I’m not on patrol, you’ll usually find me outside with Ripp, continuing to train, explore, and share our journey. The mountains challenge us, teach us, and connect us, and I’m grateful every day to be part of a community that looks out for one another. If you want to follow along with Ripp and I check us out on Instagram @out.for.a.ripp

I did not grow up with access to organized sport or outdoor mentorship. Skiing and entering the backcountry are relatively new chapters in my life—ones I began as an adult while pursuing my second university degree. Even now, I have days where I question whether I belong in these spaces, learning skills that many acquire in childhood. Choosing to step into them anyway has been both humbling and empowering.I am currently a medical student with aspirations to work in rural and emergency medicine, and to combine this path with expedition medicine. The mountains have become more than a personal challenge; they are shaping how I think about leadership, risk, teamwork, and care under pressure. My long-term dream is to complete the Seven Summits, inspired by women like Hilaree Nelson who embodied strength, humility, and generosity in the mountains.This educational opportunity (the NUEC-A) will allow me to volunteer on ski patrol, deepen my technical skills, and grow into a role where I can safely support and teach others. I am committed to paying this experience forward by creating accessible entry points for women and youth who, like me, did not grow up believing the outdoors was “for them.”

The mountains have shaped not only how I move through the world, but who I am, and that is an experience I want to share with others. In 2015, I left Melbourne and a life studying paramedicine to step into a world I barely understood: climbing, skiing, and alpinism. I arrived as a complete novice, learning as I went, often uncertain and sometimes scared. Over the years, I have grown through experience and mentorship, and each step has been about more than technical progression; it has been about learning to teach, support others, and create space for growth in environments that can feel intimidating or inaccessible.I’ve dedicated the latter half of my twenties to becoming a mountain guide, often putting my personal life on hold in this pursuit. Growing up in Australia, skiing was never part of my life; my first real exposure to snow came after moving to Canada as an adult. Learning to ski felt like learning a new language, requiring years of deliberate practice to build skill, snow sense, and confidence across varied terrain. Along the way, I’ve experienced incidents that challenged my confidence and affected my mental health, forcing me to rebuild trust in myself and my abilities.As a queer skier and rock guide the lack of mentorship from people who share my lived experience has been another obstacle. Early in my journey, it was difficult to see myself reflected in mountain spaces or imagine a successful future guiding within them. That absence made it harder to advocate for myself and fully trust my place in the industry. While I can see this slowly changing, representation and mentorship still matter deeply, and they continue to shape the guide I hope to become.