FOUNDER + PRESIDENT

Dara started laying the groundwork for Climb Avy Aware in 2019, after an avalanche killed a Canadian ice-climbing friend, Sonja Findlater. Dara knew about the ATES from climbing in Canada, and recognized it as a great risk management tool that could work in Colorado. Climb Avy Aware is her memorial to Sonja.

Dara hails from a neighboring state with little ice and no mountains. She worked as a TV news anchor (small town) and a trial lawyer (big city) but didn’t find what she wanted until she started ice climbing in her 50s. She’s been making up for lost time ever since. Dara lives in Boulder.

Image: Jesse Ramos

DIRECTOR

Sarah wears many helmets: Rocky Mountain Rescue, AMGA Rock Guide aspirant, ice climber, canyoneer and leader of canyon tours, scuba diver and caver. Oh, and she’s a patent attorney in her spare time. Since moving to Colorado, Sarah has done time in Lyons and Louisville, but eventually found her dream home high in the forest above Coal Creek Canyon.

VICE PRESIDENT

In addition to serving on the board of directors, Mike Soucy is a contributing analyst for Climb Avy Aware. He's an IFMGA Mountain Guide with decades of experience climbing and skiing backcountry routes in Colorado and beyond. Mike's work with the ATES includes daily operations guiding and instructing for the American Mountain Guides Association, as well as authoring a Beacon guidebook for backcountry skiing in Rocky Mountain National Park. Mike lives in Longmont, Colorado.

Image: Mike Soucy Collection

TREASURER

Robin is a mostly-retired corporate attorney who doesn’t ice climb and who avoids avalanche terrain altogether. Still, he’s a smart guy with a head for numbers and a strong desire to see his wife’s passion project flourish. He merely tolerates winter, and will ski if coerced. In the warmer months, Robin likes to ride his bike, mow the lawn, and sit on the deck at dusk with a glass of rosé and a good view of the hummingbird feeders. Robin lives in Boulder.

Image: Marla Rutherford

SECRETARY

Keith is a late bloomer: He started mountaineering and climbing in his 50s. He has climbed all over the west and in Alaska but is focused on the Cascade volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest as well as the 14ers in California and Colorado. He is an AMGA certified Climbing Wall Instructor, an instructor for the Colorado Mountain Club in the Backcountry Incident Management School and the Basic Snowshoe School, and he teaches basic mountaineering skills for Mountain Basics (Bellvue, WA) and the Southwest Explorers League (Santa Fe, NM). He's a retired senior intelligence analyst/Russian linguist with service in the US Army and as a US Department of Defense civilian. He lives in Golden.

Cheryl has decades of ice climbing experience, from Canada to New Hampshire to Colorado. A few years ago, she traded her crampons for bike shoes and jumped into fat biking and bike packing. Cheryl has competed in winter endurance races on her fatbike, “The Big Sexy.” She splits her time between Boulder and Leadville, but her M.L.B. heart beats only for the Red Sox.

Image: Kate Higgins