Welcome to the Pretty Faces revolution. There have been all female ski movies in the past, and many of them have been great films. What happened when Pretty Faces, the new Unicorn Picnic Production film came out was more of a paradigm shift than a shred fest. Pretty Faces has been getting a lot of press over the past few weeks and continues to gain momentum as it travels around the country and internationally. If I were to put a finger on why this film has been so well received, I would have to say that it is because of the great skiing, but it is also because of the relatable story it tells. We have all struggled to make it at some point in life, and Pretty Faces is a testament to the fact that if you stick with it for long enough, good things will come. For many of the women in the movie, this meant being able to ski amazing lines in stunning landscapes around the world. For me it meant showing the world that the east coast is not a barren wasteland of skiing, it is a beautiful peaceful, rugged, powdery, good time that deserves far more respect than it often gets. It is my motivation for waking up in the morning because I am always excited to see what the beautiful Vermont landscape has to offer.

Something that I have always regretted is not becoming a proficient climber. As a skier, I shrugged off learning rope skills and picked up mountain biking as the summer counterpart to my winter endeavors. When I was about 23 years old, I spent a winter in Courmayeur, Italy skiing on the Mont Blanc Massif and dabbled in crevasse rescue and basic glacier travel skills, but I was inexperienced and my nervousness made it hard for me to absorb the information that I was taught. When I lived in Colorado, I spent many days in the backcountry, but I never really found the need to apply any of those skills that I had learned that winter in Europe.

Posing with my trusty steed in front of Highlands