Thea Zerbe is on a mission to create a community of likeminded outdoors women in the Sea to Sky corridor by facilitating and empowering female mentorships. We had the chance to catch up with Thea to learn more about her focuses for 2018.

Where were you born, where are you now?

I was born in Missouri, and grew up in Minnesota, but I am currently living in the South Chilcotin - the nearest town is Gold Bridge, BC.

What were you up to this summer?

This past summer I am working as a Backcountry Camp Host for Tyax Adventures. Basically, Tyax owns 5 camps throughout the South Chilcotin provincial park that are used by bikers, hikers, and horseback riders as sort of a hut-to-hut system. I would travel from camp to camp, cook for people, and oversee the daily operations of camp.

We heard you got a sweet drop, tell us more?

Tyax Adventures offered float drops into the South Chilcotin provincial park, but I've actually been doing mostly self-supported bike packing trips this summer. Most recently I did a three day trip into Trigger Lake to ride Deer Pass - one of the parks premiere descents. I got to ride through meadows with blooming wildflowers, mountain passes, shale slopes, and have a couple dips in some alpine lakes, it was amazing :)

Who's the first person that comes to mind when you hear 'adventure buddy'?

Brett Trainor. She is my "adventure buddy" in the backcountry, on skis, on bikes, and in our most recent adventure - co-founding and running our nonprofit, all-female alpine mentorship program, Mountain Mentors.

Tell us how Mountain Mentors came about?

The seedling of Mountain Mentors was actually a Facebook group called the Women's Mountain Collective. We created WoMoCo a few years ago for our close friends at first, although we forgot to set the group setting to "private". Before we knew it, hundreds of women throughout the Sea to Sky corridor were joining in search of other outdoors women to connect with. Brett and I realized that there was a want and need for a program that fosters the growing outdoors community, while still giving women opportunities for skill development and confidence building in the backcountry. Thus, Mountain Mentors was born!

What can we expect to see from M.M this coming winter season?

This coming winter season will be our second year of operation and we are stoked! With the help of MEC's Outdoor Nation, we will be focusing on strengthening our mentorship program and offering our participants as many opportunities as possible to come together for skills-based clinics, trips, and safety training. And, of course, we are looking forward to seeing our community of mentors and mentees continue to grow.

Who inspires you the most?

I really do admire Spongebob's enthusiasm for life...

What do you love most about BC?

Like most people, I am totally captivated by the beauty of the area. I really admire how central nature is to coastal culture - a lot of people work really hard to shape their lifestyle around spending time outdoors. That isn’t the case everywhere.

Define your style

Hmm..my style is pretty random. I tend to kind of attach to one article of clothing and wear it down to threadbare. Currently, my article of choice is my Huck five-panel (that is not a shameless plug - I literally wear it everywhere and will probably need a new one soon).

What is the top track on your playlist right now?

Short Skirt / Long Jacket by Cake - Haven't been able to stop listening to it after that OR commercial came out, amirite??

Learn more about Mountain Mentors and it's mentorship program.

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Who The Huck with Thea Zerbe