Episode Intro:

Dear listeners of the Female Guides Requested Podcast. Welcome back. This is your host Ting Ting from Las Vegas. Today, we are joined by a true trailblazer, Norie Kizaki.

Bornin a remote Japanese village where her family oversaw a Buddhist temple, Norie’s path to the mountains was anything but traditional. After moving to the U.S. for graduate school and falling in love with the Rockies, she navigated therigorous AMGA certification process to become a mountain guide.

In this episode, we dive into her transition from the corporate world to the outdoors, her experiences as an immigrant in a male-dominated industry, and the deeplypersonal choice she made to prioritize motherhood alongside her professionalaspirations. Let’s welcome Norie Kizaki.

Quotes:

• On her rural upbringing: “We didn’t really have much of a mountaineering culture really when I was growing out… outdoor exercise was for rich people. It didn’t really occur to me that people do that.”
• On her “American Dream”: “I started to dream about going to America… just growing up in this tiny little village I just wanted to see outside world and outside world it wasn’t just Japan.”
• On her mentorship with Angela Hawse: “I met female guides including Angela Hawse and I was very inspired. I didn’t know that profession existed and I didn’t know that woman could do it.”
• On the difference between guiding and personal climbing: “If you wanted to be a really good talented rock climber, you should not become a guide… guiding is completely different from personal climbing.”
• On shifting priorities during her fertility journey: “I really did struggle with I really want to do this course… and I just decided that what? It’s not really worth it. I need to stop this for now [to focus on becoming a mother].”
• On what she wants to be remembered for: “I think I want my grave to say caring mother even if it doesn’t say I am a guide… that was it. And then I decided what if I wanted to say caring mother even if it doesn’t say I am a guide.”
• On overcoming intimidation as an immigrant: “I realized I had to work much harder if I look different and if I speak differently… I didn’t want to be a victim, I didn’t want to be sorry for myself for looking different or being different or speaking differently.”
• On the “Mama Guilt”: “I always have to balance motherhood and guiding… it’s always a balancing act and it never ever feels like it’s balanced and it’s never going to be balanced unfortunately.”

About Norie:

Originally from rural Japan, Norie moved to Colorado in 1996 for graduate school and has been guiding for more than 20 years. She completed her AMGA programs in 2021, marking several historic milestones: she is the first mother to complete the Mountain Guide Program, the first Japanese woman to achieve IFMGA status, and the first woman of color to become an AMGA/IFMGA guide.
In recognition of her expertise, she was named the 2023 Guide of the Year by the American Mountain Guides Association. Based in Boulder, Colorado, Norie spends her winters ski guiding in Japan. She and her husband also sponsor the Kizaki-Wolf Scholarship through the American Institute for Avalanche Research & Education (AIARE) to support underrepresented populations in the outdoors.

Show Notes:

Emilie is a an AMGA/IFMGA Mountain Guide but she likes lots of things that have nothing to do with mountains: cats, true crime podcasts, and books about early Arctic exploration to name a few.
When she is guiding, she’s a generalist and finds equal enjoyment on sunny rock climbs, steep ice, and snowy slopes.
If she’s not home in Salt Lake City, UT, she likes traveling the world….the more unusual the place, the better!

Emilie’s Links:

• http://www.emiliedrinkwater.com

Episode Intro:

Dear listeners of the Female Guides Requested Podcast, welcome back. This is your host Ting Ting from Las Vegas. Today I am joined by a veteran of the guiding world, Emilie Drinkwater. With over 25 years of experience, Emilie’s career has taken her from the rugged ice of the Adirondacks to pioneering leadership programs for women in Afghanistan. As an IFMGA-certified guide and a member of the AMGA instructor team, she brings a wealth of knowledge on what it means to make guiding a lifelong profession.

In this episode, we dive into her transition from the Northeast to the West, the cultural complexities of guiding abroad, and a recent, harrowing health scare that changed her perspective on the risks we take in the mountains. Let’s get into the conversation with Emilie Drinkwater.

Quotes:

• On her start in guiding: “I literally begged my way into a job guiding people… Guiding’s kind of my only marketable skill at this point. So luckily I like it and I have no plans of stopping anytime soon.”
• On being a female guide: “I love the title of your podcast because my whole career is like I have these opportunities because a female guide has been requested. And I’m often in a place where I’m… a bit of a rarity.”
• On the reality of the profession: “Guiding it’s a good career for extroverted people, which I’m not. And so, yeah, any job, it’s most of the time it’s great, but there’s definitely times where I’m tired or stressed or have a little feeling of burnout.”
• On the value of instruction: “I always learn from students… every single program I learned something new and I’m like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I’ve never seen or heard that before.'”
• On guiding in Afghanistan: “When we think of terrorists and Taliban… the majority of people in Afghanistan are just generous and kind and they’re poor. They don’t have money, it’s a tough place to live.”
• On the guide’s mindset during a health crisis: “As guides we are really used to being uncomfortable all the time… our tolerance level may be dangerously high. And that is something I’ve learned is I need to say something sooner if I’m not feeling good.”
• On finding the right partner: “A perfect partner is somebody who compliments you… somebody that you’re on the same page with—they’ll support you, but also you have a similar enough skill set.”
• On the definition of success: “Success begins with a willingness to try… because I think if you tried something you probably learned a lot from it… the success comes in trying and learning from each bit of it.”

Juliana Garcia started climbing the mountains of Ecuador at fifteen years old. Since then, she has climbed and guided many mountains and big walls throughout the Andes, Peru,Bolivia, Colombia, as well as in Pakistan, Alaska, United States and the Alps. She became the first female Latin American certified IFMGA mountain guide and served as the President of the Ecuadorian Association of guides for 6 years.

She is currently one of the instructors of the Ecuadorian guiding school ESGUIM. Juliana is also a Patagonia Brand Ambassador and an AIARE Avalanche Education Instructor and POW ambassador. She served as “board member” at the IFMGA for six years and became the first female and non-European to occupy that position. Recently she was recognized by the IFMGA as an “honorary member”.

Juliana got her “ski guide” diploma this spring 2025 in U.S by the AMGA. She became the first female Latin American to obtain this status as a full IFMGA. She is passionate aboutlearning and sharing.

Episode Intro:

Dear listeners of the Female Guides Requested Podcast,welcome back! I am your host, Ting Ting, from Las Vegas. Today’s guest is a true trailblazer in the international guiding community: Juliana Garcia.

Juliana is an Ecuadorian mountain guide whose career is a series of "firsts". She was the first woman to pass the rigorous aspirant exams in the Bolivian system and became the first female IFMGA-certified guide in all of Latin America.

Juliana’s influence extends far beyond the technical terrain of the Andes. She served two terms as the president of the Ecuadorian Mountain Guides Association, where she was instrumental in bringing their national school up to international standards. She also shattered glass ceilings at the highest level of the profession as the first woman ever to sit on the board of the IFMGA.

At the time of this interview, Juliana was based in Washington state and was in the final stages of a multi-year journey to become a certified ski guide—a discipline she picked upas an adult to bring high-level snow science and safety back to her home community in Ecuador. (And to no one's surprise, she passed!)

Now, let's dive into Juliana's inspiring life journey—her transition from volcanoes to the Cascades, the power of mentorship, and why she believes the most important tool a guide can have is the ability to listen.

Links:

• Her Place in the Mountains – Patagonia Stories
• Juliana’s Instagram page – julianagarciaguide

Quotes:

• I’m just a person that loves to be outside, loves to be in the mountains. yeah, that’s it, I think.
• When I became part of the board… I became the first female to sit at that board ever. That blew my mind. I was like, ‘You kidding me?
• I knew that that discipline exist… and I was like, what? I’m going to learn how to ski as an adult. I’m going to learn a lot of our snow science and I’m going to do it.
• I love sharing how people put themselves outside of their limits, sometimes and they do it and they found joy doing it. I love to be part of that journey of other people.
• I think we are really good on listening. I think we are really good on perceiving what is going on in our surroundings when we are guiding… and I think we’re really good on not being ashamed to turn around.
• I don’t care anymore. I don’t need to prove anything to anybody… I realized… I was pushing myself for no reason… no one is going to pushing me… I’m doing my own path.
• What we can do to help is just to choose to be uncomfortable for a moment in our daily life… We need to choose in our daily life things that we can do that support the energy overall.