Women-Owned Guiding Company Moxie Makes Mountain Adventures More Inclusive

The typical downhill skier is 34, white, and male. The typical climber: 26, white, male. That's not a generalization; that's what the data says. And for anyone who spends much time in the mountains, those facts probably aren't surprising.

Sheldon Kerr and Kristin Arnold have built their careers in this male-dominated environment, even if they’ve never quite fit its mold. Both women are professional mountain guides who have reached the highest echelon of their field, earning International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations (IFMGA) certification through the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA). It’s rare company, particularly for women: Of the nearly 7,000 IFMGA-certified guides worldwide, fewer than 2%—less than 140—are women, according to IFMGA.

“I finished in 2020 and became the 13th American woman to earn full AMGA/IFMGA certification,” says Kerr. Arnold followed shortly after.

Kerr is from Vermont while Arnold hails from Colorado, but the certification took them all over the world, from the Alaska Range to the Andes. To earn their cert, they spent years logging real-world guiding experience and completing rigorous courses and field exams in rock climbing, alpine climbing, and backcountry skiing.

They also worked for some of the most respected names in mountaineering, like Wyoming-based Exum, the oldest mountain guiding service in North America; Mountain Trip in Telluride; International Mountain Guides in Washington; and San Juan Mountain Guides in Ouray. But after years working in the male-dominated industry, they started wondering if they could do things differently. Better. They wanted to reach people that most guiding companies overlooked, people whose bodies, skin, gender, or histories don’t match that typical skier or climber.

In 2023, they started Moxie, the only women-owned guiding company led by AMGA/IFMGA-certified guides, to do just that.

Moxie Brings More People to the Mountains

“We wanted to build a guiding company that represented the guiding company that we wish we’d had when we were starting our guiding journey,” Arnold told me. “One that truly worked to serve all people.”

Moxie creates adventures and courses specifically for women, queer and trans folk, people of color, people of size, adaptive athletes, people with lower income, and military special forces. The company is based in the foothills of the San Juan Mountains in Ridgway, Colorado, but leads trips and courses around the world.

Moxie's goal is to meet people where they are. “In order to manage risk well, you have to be able to meet clients where they are physically, socially, emotionally, and financially,” said Arnold. Kerr jokes that they're a couple of “well-meaning white ladies.”

Moxie operates custom private and group trips all over the world, with a focus on rock climbing, ice climbing, alpine climbing, and backcountry skiing. The company also offers courses in these disciplines, including some designed for guides.

They also lead programming for the All In Ice Fest, which historically takes place a couple of weeks before the world-renowned Ouray Ice Fest. All In is designed for women, people of color, adaptive climbers, neurodiverse folks, and people with varying body types. Moxie brings in guides who are members of the LGBTQ, BIPOC, adaptive, and neurodiverse communities to lead and train the more than 200 participants who typically attend the festival.

“It’s easier to learn from people who are kinda like you,” said Christina Lujan, one of the All In founders and the events manager at Ouray Ice Park, where the event takes place.

The guides work under Moxie’s permits, with Kerr and Arnold working behind the scenes, acting as risk managers.

In addition to events like All In Ice Fest, Moxie runs custom, private ski and climbing trips all over the world. Past adventures include glaciated climbs in the Alaska Range, multi-pitch rock climbing trips in Rocky Mountain National Park, and volcano ski touring in Chile. Client imagination is the limit; “We can guide anywhere in the world,” said Arnold.

Skiers and climbers looking to improve their skills and confidence will find ongoing courses in backcountry skiing, avalanche safety, and ice, rock, and alpine climbing. Kerr and Arnold are both members of the AMGA National Instructor Team, meaning they now teach the same AMGA/IFMGA courses they once took as aspiring guides. They also work with AIARE (the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education), where they’re certified to train the next generation of avalanche instructors and professional avalanche workers.

In addition to AMGA/IFMGA courses and AIARE Level 1 and Level 2 avalanche classes, Moxie runs ongoing courses for everyday adventurers and, uniquely, courses designed for specific groups—adaptive athletes or non-binary and trans folks, for a few examples. In the winter, there may be a ski course in the San Juan Mountains that was created to foster independence in the backcountry, while the summer schedule includes a four-day “Rock Climbing ‘Friendtorship’ Course” in Red Rock, Nevada or a “Women & Genderqueer Alpine Climbing Course” in Colorado’s Weminuche Wilderness.

Every course comes with the same disclaimer: “No Jerks Allowed."

How to Make an Inclusive Guiding Company

“We get to work with people at a time when they are super vulnerable either because they have hired us to help build their skill set or to go do something hard that they might not see as being possible without someone with more experience. And gosh, what an opportunity to connect them to the space, to the place, and to themselves,” said Arnold.

Kerr remembers a trans client who came to Moxie after a harmful experience in another climbing program. “She didn't trust us at first, and honestly, why would she?” said Kerr. Moxie went to great lengths to make her feel physically and emotionally safe by creating a physical barrier to keep the climbing site private and setting expectations among the other students. “She kept coming back, kept building skills, and has now passed her guide exam,” said Kerr.

Cost is a significant barrier to entry for guiding services, and Moxie also goes to great lengths to make its offerings more affordable. “We charge the most and we charge the least,” said Arnold. Meaning, Moxie's standard base rates tend to be higher than what most other guiding companies charge for similar experiences, which allows the company to then offer a lower rate for clients who can't afford these kinds of trips. On a case-by-case basis, Moxie will adjust the rate, set up a payment plan, or even facilitate a trade to get people on the mountain.

Over the years, Arnold and Kerr have also accepted trades for their guiding. Rock climbing instruction for house cleaning, ski touring for website work, and a rope rescue course for house painting. “It turns out when you meet people where they are, when you sit down and ask: What do you need? What are your goals? How do we work with you to do those things? We’re able to serve everybody better,” Arnold said.

The approach makes Kerr and Arnold “the exception, not the norm,” according to Arnold. “There are so few women and even fewer people of color, trans, or non-binary folks in this profession,” she added.

Moxie is working to change that, one client at a time, one excursion at a time. But Arnold and Kerr also recognize that changing the statistics isn't as simple as getting more people in the mountains, though; it’s about changing who feels like they belong there in the first place.