Show Notes
Show Notes:
Laurie’s Links:
@laurie_wattclimbs
https://www.mooneymountainguides.com/
Episode Intro:
Dear guests of the Female Guides Requested Podcast, Happy Wednesday! This is your host, Ting Ting, from Las Vegas. On the first episode of the new year, 2025, we have Laurie Watt as our guest. Laurie has just been awarded the “Best Guide of the Year” by the AMGA.
Laurie fell in love with hiking and skiing in the mountains as a kid, but it wasn’t until she had sent her kids off to college that she was able to fully embrace mountain life. While raising her family, she also cultivated a 32-year career in physical therapy. In 2006, she moved to Switzerland with her family for her husband’s job. Living in the Alps quickly reminded Laurie of her love for adventuring in the mountains. After returning to the States in 2011, she expanded her skill set to rock and ice climbing. Once the kids were off to college, Laurie decided to make a major career change and committed to becoming a guide. Through training, mentorship, and many days out, she is progressing through the American Mountain Guides Association’s rock, ice, and alpine disciplines.
Laurie works full-time as a guide for Mooney Mountain Guides in New Hampshire, guiding rock climbing, ice climbing, and mountaineering. In the summers, she travels to the Pacific Northwest and guides on the glaciers of Mt. Baker. She offers women-centered programming in rock, ice, and mountaineering. In addition, Laurie also works as a climbing coach for the Holderness School Climbing Team.
In this episode, we dive deep into how Laurie cultivated a great mentorship from the side of a mentee, how she challenged the common narrative on aging and used the life skills she accumulated from being a PT and a mom to enrich guiding, and how she sustained the physically demanding guiding career.
Things We Talked about:
Came in guiding late around age 50
had been living a “normal” life – college, job, family until the “pivotal” moment to regain the love of the mountains
back to the States went straight towards Mt Washington in winter
why does Laurie enjoy hardship?
when was the seed of becoming a guide planted?
what were the biggest doubts back then on career change?
what did she need as a mentee?
self awareness versus self perception
deep discussion on mentorship
might be late on the guiding profession but all the experiences accumulated beforehand were still valuable
skills Laurie didn’t think useful but turned out to be very useful in guiding?
how to stay employed as a guide in Northeast
taking care of a guide’s body
making guiding sustainable
was guiding the way she thought?
what kind of guiding does Laurie do?
how did the family react to her career change?
the narrative of aging
best guide tool: listening
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Show Notes: Resources for Candidates and Providers: Scenario overview video Scoring rubric + guidance Updated SPI Program Handbook New textbook release (May 5): Rock Climbing: The Official AMGA Single Pitch Manual Related Links: AMGA Single Pitch Instructor Page EP 20 – Everything SPI 01 – Professionalism and Risk Management EP 29 – Everything SPI 02 – Site Selection & Group Management EP 34 – Everything SPI 03 – Current SPI Eval System EP 38 – Everything SPI 04 – Teaching & Curriculum Design I Andrew Megas-Russell Instagram https://www.instagram.com/megas_sends/