Gear
Gear manufacturers have realised that lots of women like the outdoors and they're different shapes from men. Here's what's out there, and where you can buy it.
People
Misadventures and Fishing Tales is a small book of short stories all about that most unfeminine of activities - fishing! Kelly Bruning is a keen 'fisherlady' who lives in Michigan and shows, just like so many of the other amazing women on GO! Girls Outdoors, that it's possible to excel in a non-traditional sport. Read on for the review of the book...
Kelly is a kayaking enthusiast from Queensland, Australia who, after a late start on her paddling life, has embraced the sport with a passion and now instructs kayaking for a living. She works for an organisation called Kanu Kapers Australia and this is her story.
Jill Ellis, owner and operator of Adanac Paddles, is a self declared "Jill of all trades". Jill has been a welder in the Military, a professional woodcarver, a champion black powder shooter and a web designer, but now she is a teacher and creator of beautiful, hand carved Greenland kayak paddles. Don't miss this profile! Jill has an amazing story!
Teresa is a super-keen mountain biker from Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. She fell in love with the sport almost immediately and now does as much mountain biking as she can. She also does her best to encourage other women who like the sport or are interested in trying it out, and runs a website called Mountain Biking Girl.
Emma Capp is a graphic design artist, photographer and grass roots environmental activist who has made her home in Tasmania in order to contribute to the campaign to save the state's old growth forests from unsustainable logging practices. She is involved with the organisation Still Wild Still Threatened and spends a portion of her time climbing trees and living in the forest at "Camp Florentine", the organisation's forest blockade. Here's what she has to say about her life in the outdoors...
Ever felt like training is something you have to do, rather than something you want to do? That fitness is a chore and no fun anymore? If so, perhaps you should try out the sport of Adventure Racing - Amanda Koerber did, and she liked it so much that now she runs events herself!
How would you choose to travel around Australia? By bike? Car? Campervan? Freya Hoffmeister, a German sea kayaker, has made it her mission to kayak all the way around Australia, a task that has only been achieved once, 27 years ago. At the time of writing Freya is over half way around and looking strong - and this is her story.
Heather Kirkpatrick is an Outdoor Educator with an astounding amount of experience and a fascinating career path. Her work in the outdoors has taken her all over the world, including Antarctica. She now lives in a solar house she built in Tasmania and travels Australia and the rest of the world doing freelance outdoor work, writing and journalism. If you've got a sense of adventure and a hankering for a career change, be wary when reading this article!
Robyn Bertram is a rock climber, student, biomechanics research assistant and advocate for women's fitness from Ontario, Canada. She says that conquering the physical and mental challenges of the sport hasn't been easy for her, but she loves the sport and hopes to encourage more women to try it out.
Joanne Stamplis is an enthusiastic and avid climber from Oregon who would much rather be out on a rock than at work! She recently took a year off and climbed all over the US - this is her story.
Laurie Bernier is an avid and experienced backcountry skier and all round outdoor enthusiast from Maine in the USA. She manages to fit her outdoor adventures around her work as a recreational therapist, and has some interesting things to say about her experiences with men and women in the backcountry.
Anyone who has switched jobs knows that it can be stressful and tiring. Anyone who has quit a job knows that it can put you under all sorts of emotional and financial pressure, and anyone who has taken up a new career knows that it can be very hard work, both daunting and exhausting. For anyone planning a career change, use Julie Angus as your inspiration! A momentous career change took Julie from being a Molecular Biologist in Vancouver, to rowing across the Atlantic Ocean with her then fiancé, Colin Angus. Interested? Read on!
Bec Fox is the manager of Kindilan Outdoor Education and Conference Centre near Brisbane, Australia and a mother of two small children. As I meet more and more people through GO! Girls Outdoors, a common question comes up when I’m among young outdoor professionals - whether it’s possible and viable to have children and still maintain a career in the outdoor industry. Bec is the perfect person to show that the answer is a resounding yes!
Chandra Crawford is a Canadian Cross Country Skiing champion who won a gold medal at the Torino Winter Olympics in 2006 and the hearts of Canadians after enthusiastically belting out the national anthem from the winner's podium! She is also one of the founding members of Fast and Female, an organisation that uses participation based ski days to encourage girls to take up sport and to provide them with positive, healthy role models.
Mish Morgenstern has been connected to the ocean for her whole life, from watching Jacques Cousteau and Alby Mangels movies as a child, to working in the industry and undertaking a large number of sea kayaking trips, to her current work as a photographer and the manager of a film production office. Her love for the ocean has led to a strong dedication towards protecting it, which she does through volunteer work and donating a portion of her photography profits to organisations that help to preserve the ocean environment
GirlVentures runs an alumni program that trains up the girls they've had on their programs who have an interest in pursuing a career in Outdoor Education. Anna Fry-jung Hoff is one of these alumni who gained valuable experience working with the organisation. She is currently a university student but hopes to convert her love for the outdoors into a career.
Emmy Hendrickx is a passionate canoeist, hiker and camper who has overcome many challenges and hardships in her life. She now owns her own business, Wilderness Wanderings, through which she runs outdoor expeditions in Ontario for a wide variety of women. Let her story be an inspiration to you all!
Priscilla McKenney has been both working and playing in the great outdoors for over 30 years, ever since the age of 16 when her family was fogged in on a sailing trip and Priscilla went ashore and met an Outward Bound instructor. Today Priscilla is a Program Director at GirlVentures and is currently conducting academic research in girls' outdoor programming. Make sure you read her story here!
Lots of people think sea kayaking involves putting a few paddle strokes in on glassy water, maybe with a dolphin in the background. This is not how Justine Curgenven sea kayaks - at least not all the time. Justine is the filmmaker behind the 'This is the Sea' DVDs (there are four in the series), which show a very different side to sea kayaking.
Heather Swan is a World Record holding BASEjumper and Wingsuit BASEjumper, as well as an award winning author, photographer and professional speaker. At the time of writing she is also the only women in the world to combine high altitude mountaineering and BASEjumping.
Brigitte Muir is one of Australia’s best known female mountaineers. Her passion for the outdoors, in particular for climbing the world’s highest mountains, has given her a truly inspiring life of adventure and excitement that has led her all over the world.
Working in the outdoors can provide an exciting and adventurous lifestyle, even if it's not always consistent! Amy has been working in the industry since she left school and shares some insights with GO! Girls Outdoors.
Thor is Australia's top ranked athlete in the sport of Mountain Bike Orienteering - a sport in which you must be an excellent navigator and skilled mountain biker, be able to think quickly and plan effectively.