What Does a Mountaineer Look Like?
By Sunny Stroeer
If you passed this crew on the streets of Mendoza, you probably wouldn’t guess that, between the nine of us, we’ve stood on 17 Aconcagua summits and facilitated hundreds more. You wouldn’t guess there’s more than a decade of hard-won know-how here, from hands-on gritty high altitude expertise to all the behind-the-scenes stuff that makes a summit bid work: the permits and porter plans, the oxygen checks, the late-night gear repairs, and the emotional rollercoaster that is an attempt on a 6,900 meter (22,600 ft) peak.
But that’s kind of the point, isn’t it? There isn’t one way to look like a mountaineer.
Mountaineers look like teachers, guides, nurses, and students. They look like moms. They look like women in their twenties and women twice or thrice that. They look like laughter and grit and “let’s just keep going.” Sometimes they wear braids, sometimes they wear helmets. Sometimes they wear both. Sometimes they’re decked out in high heels and makeup, and sometimes they’re wearing the same down jacket they’ve been using for ten years – patches, escaping fluff and all.
At AWE, we see this every season. Because we are those women. AWE is for women, by women; it is a space where we climb together, push limits together, and have each other’s backs when the going gets tough. Because we know that there isn’t one way to look like a mountaineer (and because we know that much of the world still thinks there is!), we run women-only expeditions around the world, from Aconcagua to Mount Baker, from Peru’s high peaks to Nepal’s 3 Passes, all the way to Pik Lenin in Central Asia.
And if you’re wondering about how to get started…. the truth is, you don’t have to show up knowing everything. You just have to show up. That’s how every mountaineer starts.
So when you look at these photos — the smiles, the dusty boots, the mismatched gloves — we hope that you see possibility. We hope you see yourself.
You don’t have to already be a mountaineer. You just have to be willing to try.
Because this — right here — is what mountaineers looks like.
Ready to learn more?
If Aconcagua has been calling your name… or if your heart skips a beat when you see a summit ridge lined with prayer flags or a glacier glowing pink in the evening sun… come climb with us. Check out our expeditions at www.awexpeditions.org/our-trips — from Aconcagua 360° to Mount Baker, from Peru and Nepal to Pik Lenin. Or just drop us a note at info@awexpeditions.org. We’d love to help you figure out which mountain might be yours next.