As outdoor athletes, we all care about the environment and are committed to combating climate change, but we often forget the impact our outdoor adventures have on the environment.

Anna Mounsey spent 45 days at sea in the Arctic taking and processing water samples from various depths to look for Harmful Algal Blooms. Read about her journey.

A reflection on grief, growth, and the meaning of being “badass,” this essay traces how outdoor challenge, memory, and perseverance became a way to honor a friend — and a reminder to live fully, push limits with intention, and carry those we’ve lost with us into wild places.

What began as a final goal became a turning point. This powerful reflection shares how training for and climbing Mount Rainier transformed despair into a desire to keep living — and how the mountains, community, and movement helped one person rediscover meaning, connection, and hope.

From being the only junior girl racing mountain bikes in Oregon to leading a Backcountry Squatters chapter at Montana State, this piece explores why women-centered outdoor spaces matter — and how support, shared identity, and permission to fail can change the way people learn, grow, and belong outside.

Leaving a mountain town for city life isn’t easy. This reflection explores homesickness, identity, and the surprising ways outdoor joy and adventure can still exist far from the mountains.

It’s October and it’s snowing for the first time of the year, you’re feeling “meh” about it and that’s okay.

From a last-minute college decision to finding confidence in the mountains, this essay traces one woman’s journey into the outdoors — through fear, failure, joy, and the freedom that comes with choosing a path that feels true.

It was powerful, knowing that I could do whatever I wanted, that I could experience all that I wanted to, and know that I would always be there for me.

From soggy socks to strategic squats, this essay explores one woman’s long journey toward mastering a foundational outdoor skill — and why learning to pee in the woods is a rite of passage worth talking about.

Andie Creel has ventured across the pond for a fall semester to explore what Europe has to offer. Here is one of her most recent experiences. She “ripped her head out of her ass and went skiing in mom jeans,” and it helped her let her ego go and have fun trying new things. 

It’s 4:30 A.M. and my alarm goes off although it feels as if I hardly slept. I was up until midnight the night before studying for accounting. One thing is for sure, there is snow on the ground.

This summer I got a chance to head up to Beartooth Pass with some of the Backcountry Squatters girls and half of the Bozeman college-aged population. First let me say that the crew we went with is totally savage, most of them are extremely embarrassing, and I would not have wanted to spend that weekend with any other group of people.