Amanda Marchiani, Founder of Gore Range Gravity Alliance

What’s a girl gotta do to get some female skiing buddies? Turns out, you just have to ask.

By Lisa Blake

Anyone want to meet up for a beer and chat about backcountry skiing? Amanda Marchiani threw the question up on Facebook and 65 women responded with interest. It was right before the pandemic hit in 2020 and Marchiani had just moved back to Vail after a stint in Denver. She was craving some time on the mountain that didn’t involve the dude crew.

“When a guy asks you to go on a backcountry tour, there’s a curious question in your mind…are they trying to get outside with me or trying to date me?” Marchiani says.

The women that showed up that night eventually got together for a hut trip, kept spitballing ideas, and hosted the first Gore Range Gravity Alliance (GRGA) event—a Wax and Wine night in Avon—in January 2022.

Since then, the grassroots organization has snowballed (pun intended) into a volunteer-operated Eagle and Summit County nonprofit on a mission to create spaces where women—regardless of age, background or experience—have opportunities to explore the outdoors and grow in confidence to become a leader of her own adventures. Amanda says, “Though we do rely heavily on volunteers, we now have a part-time Executive Director as well”.

Last year, GRGA 25/26 program year, GRGA hosted 62 events with more than 1,700 attendees. Women gathered for free hands-on avalanche safety education, relaxed-pace uphill skins and apres connection, and an annual Backcountry Ball fundraising event that invites women, and men too! to swap ski boots and snowpants for heels and sequins.

“Winter in the mountains can be isolating,” Marchiani says. “There’s a lack of connection going on. For women to take that first step and get out to a meetup like this makes such a difference. That’s what leads to happiness.”

GRGA founder and part-time executive director, 36-year-old Marchiani says some days she has to pinch herself.

“I feel so grateful that this is part of my life,” she says. “I’ll often look at the women in the room, whether they’re putting on touring skis for the first time or volunteering to help GRGA grow, and I just feel really lucky.”

The Canon City native and Colorado State University student (Amanda says, Technically, I’m not a CSU alum, since I didn’t graduate…life decided I was built for something other than engineering!) is a contract events organizer, piecing together infrastructure for high-adrenaline competitions like X Games and Red Bull Rampage. The end goal, she says, is to hang up the events job and focus full time on GRGA, working to reach broader female audiences and weave together more intergenerational connections.

“When you have a 20-year-old skinning next to a 60-year-old, that relationship is so special,” Marchiani says. “We really want to be able to create more of that.”

GRGA recently brought on three new board members (17 applied for the trio of positions) and fundraising is the central focus as the organization works to hire a full-time staff person and eventually launch youth programming for young women.

“People are always looking for a place to belong and I think it’s really cool to give women an opportunity to feel that,” says Marchiani. “We have empty nesters getting back into the thing they love. Moms with little ones, making time for themselves and 22-year-olds who just moved to the mountains. They’re all getting outside and connecting.”

http://www.gorerangegravityalliance.com