The American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE) announced on Thursday, September 4, an expansion to their Professional Growth Network (PGN). The initiative supports outdoor winter professionals from gender identities that are historically underrepresented in the industry.
Now in its fifth season, the PGN is expanding to increase accessibility. Alongside season-long mentor–mentee cohorts, the program is adding three new short-form affinity cohorts designed for BIPOC, queer, neurodivergent and adaptive participants. These shorter sessions create more entry points and options for those who might not be able to commit to a full season.
According to Azissa Singh, program director of PGN, only about 15% of avalanche instructors within AIARE identify as women or LGBTQ+. Meanwhile, that percentage is nearly doubled among their recreational students. That gap in representation, says Singh, is what the organization is working to change.
“The origin story here is that there were women at AIARE who were like, ‘Hey, we’re having kind of a different experience than our male counterparts in this profession and industry,’” says Singh. “We’re getting less work, being paid less, experiencing harassment, like all of these problems that seem related to our gender identity.”
So, women at AIARE set out to build a community that better supported and represented them.
That community began in 2021 as AIARE’s Women’s Mentorship Program. In 2024, it was rebranded as the Professional Growth Network to welcome participants of all underrepresented gender identities, including transgender, nonbinary and genderqueer outdoor professionals. Since 2021, PGN has helped 176 mentees develop their skills that they then passed along to some 2,800 avalanche students.
Kelly Chang, past PGN mentee and mentor experienced bias as an Asian woman in the field. The program offered her and her peers a space to finally focus beyond these challenges to facilitate camaraderie and change for their community. “I always find it amazing when a program of a size like this (not small) manages to significantly touch everyone in it,” says Chang. “Programs like this demonstrate that people matter.”
AIARE is also working to develop a job fair and networking series to increase career opportunities and engage more participants. AIARE hopes these events will connect mentees with avalanche professionals and potential employers from across the outdoor industry. According to Singh, feedback from participants is what drives the program’s development.
These changes come at a time when support for underrepresented communities faces more pushback and funding challenges than it did a year ago. AIARE credits sponsors like Blizzard-Tecnica and Recco for staying committed amid broader cuts.
At Blizzard-Tecnica, the Hilaree Nelson Fund—created to honor the legendary ski mountaineer—has played a key role in backing this initiative. For Leslie Baker Brown, Blizzard-Tecnica’s Global Woman to Woman Program Leader, awarding support to PGN felt like an obvious decision. “I’ve been in the industry for 36 years and I haven’t had a female mentor,” says Baker Brown. “I think female mentorship is really important, and [PGN] is a really cool program.”
For those unsure about applying, Singh’s advice is simple: “Just apply. If money, time or schedule is an issue, we try really hard to make it work for the individual student.”
Mentor applications are open until September 23, and mentee applications will be accepted until October 1. Learn more and apply here.
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