Straight Talk with Rachel Reich

Winning a sweepstakes may not sound like a likely start to a life in the backcountry, but that’s exactly what happened to Rachel Reich four years ago when she gave up the security of a desk job for frequent trips to the mountains. Before she won the Alaskan Freeride Program (sponsored by Alaska Brewing), she was working full time behind a desk at Vail Resorts doing marketing. That was in 2012, and soon after the trip she traded in her plot in the cube farm for an ice axe and backcountry board.

After spending a week in Alaska at Thompson Pass heliskiing and splitboarding, she knew it was time for a big life change—weekend trips to the backcountry were no longer going to cut it. Shortly after the trip she quit her job, moved to her new home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and started a business that would allow her the time and flexibility she needed to ride big mountains.

When did you start snowboarding?

When I was a teenager living Charlotte, North Carolina, I saw a picture of big mountain snowboarder Victoria Jealouse riding a big Alaska spine in the magazine Teen. I tore it out, stuck it to my wall and set my sights on someday following in Jealouse’s footsteps. During my freshman year at Appalachian State in Boone, North Carolina, I started riding my resort board on manmade snow at the local mountain. There wasn’t a lot of vertical relief, so we rode the park mostly. One day, I hiked up a steep snow slope in the backcountry but we hit a lot of rocks on the way down. I don’t think I rode powder until I moved out West.

What were your early experiences with mountaineering?

I did a month-long NOLS course in 2008. This trip provided my first exposure to alpine climbing when we attempted Mt. Baker and Mt. Shukshan, both in Washington. Being outside for that amount of time gave me a completely different set of challenges. My mind turned off the trivial and instead focused on the essentials: warmth, food and sleep. That experience made me appreciate the simplicity of life, especially after our group witnessed a huge D4 avalanche.

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