“If you can do a NOLS course, you can ski to the South Pole”

“If you can do a NOLS course, you can ski to the South Pole”

—Tori Murden McClure, Author of A Pearl in the Storm (Harper Collins 2009)

In a traditionally male-dominated environment—the great outdoors—we at NOLS are doing our part to create spaces for women in leadership. If you can lead someone in the wild, you can lead someone anywhere.

Female-identifying NOLS alumni have gone on to be great leaders not only in the outdoors, but also in the boardroom, the pressroom, and the courtroom.

Here are just a few of the noteworthy NOLS alumnae and instructors who will inspire you.

• Anne Parmenter: Mountaineer and Everest Summiter
• Liza Howard: Fastest Woman on Trail, Ultrarunner
• Tori Murden McClure: First Woman to Row Across the Atlantic
• Reena Kaushal Dharmashaktu: First Indian Woman to Ski to South Pole
• Debbie Armstrong: Alpine Skier and 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist
• Arianne Zwartjes: Professor of Poetry
• Ann Mills: Deputy Under Secretary of Natural Resources & the Environment, USDA
• Catherine Stifter: NPR producer and Peabody Award recipient
• Candice Carpenter Olsen: Founder, iVillage
• Louisa Willcox: Senior Wildlife Advocate, Natural Resources Defense Counsel
• Kelly Pyke: international relief work in Uganda
• Michelle Murphy: international medical relief worker in Ghana and Dominican Republic