Ambassadors

I run! Usually my time is spent on the trails, but I have a soft spot for the roads and chocolate chip cookies.

Native of Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, Appalachian Mountain Club’s White Mountain huts alum, Middlebury College graduate, and Adirondack Mountains enthusiast. Since leaving the US in 2011, I’ve made my home in the village of Servoz, in the Chamonix valley. At the suggestion of my partner, Brad, my initial plan was to come to ski for a season in 2010 and then head home…but more than a decade later, we’re still here!

I have been accused of being in two places at once– but that’s because I have an identical twin. My husband Jerry and I swim, bike, and run in the most exotic places, but I will give up a swim any day for a trail run in the Alps! Mountain adventures started in the Wyoming’s Wind River Range and spread to Greenland, the Alps, North Cascades, Sierra, New Zealand, and the Idaho Sawtooth Range.

I’m a fast twitch Dipsea runner trying to be a slow twitch Alps-type runner. Just ask Run the Alps Guide Simon Conroy.

I live in Zurich, Switzerland, but know very little about the city, as I am constantly hopping trains headed to the mountains.

I grew up hiking with my dad in New England. During my summer breaks at Middlebury College, I worked in the Appalachian Mountain Club’s high mountain huts in New Hampshire’s White Mountain National Forest. There, I baked bread, cleaned toilets, offered trail advice, and fast-hiked around the mountains in – no kidding – a variety of costumes.

After arriving in Zurich in the summer of 2016, I quickly connected with Hillary Gerardi, a fellow AMC huts and Middlebury alumna, and now also a Run the Alps ambassador. Hillary brought me to my first-ever Skyrace – and I was hooked! Racing is such a great excuse to travel to new places, meet fun people, and run through the mountains with well-spaced snack stops!

I fell in love with the Alps after moving to France in 2009. Growing up near flat Chicago, it took some years to build the strength, confidence, and experience that unlock the freedom and bliss of running in the mountains. Now, there is nothing more natural than to bound down a mountain over rocks and snow through the fog and rain or to enjoy those blue sky days in the wildflowers. I like the challenge of pushing hard on a relentless climb and the reward, not only of a great view, but of each step that carries us higher… and of course finishing the day with a long downhill dance.

I grew up in South Africa spending most of my time playing sports, hiking with my family, and riding horses. Running is very much ingrained in my family. I grew up watching the Comrades year after year and ultrarunning was pretty normal for me. I got into trail running after university in about 2010 and after exhausting all the trails in South African, I started racing a lot in Europe. I discovered the beauty and fun of Chamonix, France through spending a summer in a van here in 2018. After that, I decided to move here permanently. I’m very proud to now call this valley my home!

I discovered mountains and trail running my last year of college at University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. I was on a website looking to buy a new wetsuit, and saw clothing for something called “trail running.”

I had to learn more. I Googled “trail running,” and it opened a whole new world. Eventually, I saw a Salomon TV episode about UTMB and I knew I belonged in this sport.

Since that time, my love for trail running has shaped my life and has been a constant source of inspiration.