Amy Jane David: At Home in the Backcountry

How this professional skier, guide, and media maven makes it her mission to empower others in the backcountry.

Amy David sending it into the sunshine. Photo by Hillary Maybery.

“Backcountry” is consistently defined as remote, undeveloped, sparsely inhabited, and difficult to access. And being precisely there is at the heart and soul of professional big mountain skier and wilderness backpacking guide, Amy David. On any given winter day, you’ll find her aboard her speed machine with her skis in tow, in search of epic lines or smashing her skills game and taming the sled’s eagerness to buck like a bronco.

She makes it look easy—in those quintessential backcountry photos shot by the masterful Hillary Maybery and others—over and through the marshmallow fluff-like powder and bouncing through the trees and off the crags. She describes the similarities between ‘the float’ when you’re powder skiing and finding the flow on her snow machine. So much so, that sometimes the skis just go along for the ride. The adventure of going faster and farther off the beaten path feeds her determination to consistently get better in this male-dominated sport, serving both as a Polaris Ambassador and member of the Empowersports Women’s Riding Council.

Amy David aboard Polaris. Photo by Hillary Maybery.

Amy grew up in Pinedale, Wyoming, a small town nestled in a high alpine valley at 7,175 feet elevation, and known for its rich history in exploration, ranching, and fur trading. Her childhood playground offered endless opportunities for outdoor recreation and quenching one's curiosities of what could be found in the surrounding mountain ranges—the Wind River Range, the Wyoming Range, and Gros Ventre Mountains.

Having earned her BA in the Psychology of Communication and a minor in Outdoor Education and Leadership from Westminster College, Amy has intentionally shaped her career to bring the best of both together. She is the founder of Action Inspired Productions, an adventure-based multimedia content company, and also the Media Coordinator for the Friends of the Sawtooth Avalanche Center.

By way of her time spent in Salt Lake City, Amy now lives near Stanley, Idaho in the Sawtooth Mountains as a caretaker on a ranch accessible only by snowmobile in the winter months—a few miles off any main road in a place that perfectly speaks to her purposeful wanderlust. As we had the chance to catch up, I couldn’t help but feel like Amy has a special partnership with the mountains themselves—like her energy is found through their two-way collaboration.

Photo by Amy David in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho

One might think it’s the solitude of the backcountry that fuels her internal fire; but rather, it’s sharing these wild experiences with others, and building people up through the power of adventure and oftentimes the unknown. She gracefully moves between her role as a winter sports athlete for companies like Icelantic Skis and Rab, and her role as a guide—helping people and passing on what she loves—so others can understand the gear, learn how to navigate, and feel safe in the unfamiliar.

Charting her course as a professional athlete has taken her to the far reaches of the world, to podiums across the Freeskiing World Tour, and to the covers of magazines. She’s been in front of and behind the cameras—creating stories, being the story—always inspired by and inspiring others through action. As a professional athlete, so much of one’s time, energy, and commitment can turn inward; yet while Amy does focus on continuous growth in sport and otherwise, she is definitive about understanding and evaluating the best role for her in any given situation, and about leaning in to those she can learn from.

Amy David finding the good stuff. Photo by Hillary Maybery.

She continues to augment her backcountry certifications, which include Wilderness First Responder, Avalanche Pro 1, AMGA Alpine Skills, Adaptive Sports Ski Instructor, and Leave No Trace Trainer. She is currently an American Mountain Guide Association (AMGA) Ski Guide Apprentice on her way to achieving the next-level guiding opportunity for winter off-trail and glacier terrain. She appreciates how her time guiding skiers in the backcountry forces her to look at things differently in the sense of how she would ski it on her own, versus how she can help a beginner to intermediate skier conquer their first couloir.

From Amy’s perspective, supporting others in their quest to accomplish things they never thought possible is as gratifying as carving that perfect line down a steep cirque. Of course, there are those epic powder days when she may feel that inkling of wanting it all to herself, but at the end of the day, many smiles outweigh the power of one.

Amy takes guidance from the best through her mentor, Margaret Wheeler. Margaret was the second woman in the US to complete her full AMGA and IFMGA guide certification at the international level. An active member of the guiding community, she is an instructor of guide training for the AMGA and serves on its board of directors and as president of the organization. Not surprisingly, Amy is taking this opportunity to give back herself, bringing Margaret along on the snowmobiling side of things—like a two-way mentorship.

Photo by Karina Devore

Amy and Margaret in the backcountry

In the summer months she leads multi-day backpacking trips for Sawtooth Mountain Guides and continues her work as the founder of the retreat program for And She’s Dope Too, where she leads women of all ages and experience levels on week-long educational wellness wilderness trips across Idaho, Wyoming and Utah.

Amy exudes this combination of calmness and confidence that tells me I could learn so much from this woman some twenty years my junior. While her accolades in the sport of skiing are undoubtedly impressive and I’d sure love to mirror her line on a powder day, what captivated me during our conversation even more so was her compassionate humility and her driven ambition. And when you think about stirring these together in a big ‘ol bowl with a nice wooden spoon, what you come up with is a pretty inspired recipe of a human being.

Photo by Jeremy Lato

Photo by Amy David

Photo by Amy McDougal

Photo by Jeremy Lato

So let’s take what we did just there in the bowl, add the courage, grit, and work ethic instilled at an early age on the ranchlands of the West, and you can see how the lure of the highest peaks doesn’t seem to pose as much of a challenge or a threat as it does an invitation.

An invitation for Amy David to head into the backcountry on a scouting mission, and then bring others along to experience a few transformational days.

An opportunity for others to spend time with someone who can teach so much, but isn’t above learning from others.

A chance to be coached through dealing with potential fears in the backcountry.

And the benefit of learning her methodical approach to backcountry risk assessment and keeping it fun!

Amy David leading the way. Photo by Jeremy Lato.

VéloSkiCaffè looks forward to publishing a story written by Amy sometime down the road.

Head on over to AmyJaneDavid.com and give her a follow on Instagram at @amyjanedavid

As we continue to reach out to and have conversations with the pioneers, pacesetters, and just some really fun people laying it down and bringing pure awesomeness to our smile-inducing pursuits like cycling, skiing, and coffee; our goal is simple—live, learn, and share in collaboration with like-minded adventurers like you.

Cat skiing serves up the perfect family ski day

Where you can make friends on a powder day

The saying typically goes like this. “There are no friends on a powder day.” But what if you had the opportunity to enjoy perfectly hand-picked fresh tracks all day without the pressure to rush from lift to lift to beat the frenzy? What if someone led you directly to the secretly sweet stashes and then stepped aside and said “it’s all yours—go for it!”

We are lucky to live eleven miles from the number one ski resort in North America. My husband and his two sons grew up ski racing, and the boys have made the transition now as teenagers to the world of “I’d huck myself off that.” I grew up in Colorado and started skiing at three years old, so as a family we aren’t strangers to ski weekends.

But we were hoping for something different. Something special that would make our first trip as a family unforgettable. A time we knew we would always look back on and hope we could do it again. More like an adventure than just another day skiing. And with two teenage boys in the mix, finding that something which would both knock their socks off and alleviate as much heckling or arguing as possible was a daunting task.

Hey—I have an idea! Let’s put ourselves in a place where we’re stuck with five people we don’t know, all day, outdoors, where we have no idea what the weather is going to do, and there’s little to no cell service—how does that sound, boys?

Needless to say, we didn’t share that bit of information, yet we were able to “coerce” them to be pulled out of school for a couple of days so we could load up the car and head for the Tetons. Priority number one? Road trip snacks. To this day when done well, this stands out as one of the highlights of spending five hours trapped in a car with the “parentals.” Cooler with assorted teenager-approved drinks, salty crunchy things, homemade baked goods, and some veggies and hummus and fruit for the win.

Close to five hours later, we pulled up to the Teewinot Lodge at Grand Targhee Resort. Already this was a foreign situation. Normal would be finding a conspicuous spot to park the van, throw up the shades and sleep for the night. Checking the boys into their own room down the hall, proceeding to eat “Wydaho” waffle fry nachos at the Trap Bar & Grill and then making our way in snow boots to the outdoor heated pool and hot tub? This was “sic.”

Snow was in the forecast and fat ski rentals were on the agenda for the next morning—massive underfoot Black Crows all around. A quick stop at Snorkels Cafe for ski legs fuel and coffee, and then the signing of the waivers and avalanche beacon checks as the guides gave us the game plan for the day. One short lift ride to where we’d meet our mode of transport and new best friend, Pisten Bully. We loaded up and the snow cat began to make its way up the mountain via, you guessed it, the cat tracks. Up, up, and up we went—all in eager anticipation of what our guides had in store for us.

Remember that part about no pressure to find the fresh tracks? And the sweet stashes finding their way to your line down the mountain. The guides at Grand Targhee Cat Skiing had everything dialed. The way they casually yet affirmatively controlled the environment, showing everyone where to lay down the next set of tracks so we, and others, could keep coming back for more of the epic marshmallow fluff. Slowing down, taking it all in, and spooning the tracks was our collective mission, and friends were made—even on a powder day.

We couldn’t remember the last time we skied from open to close and then some. Cat skiing gives you this special mental decompression and physical recovery every time you reach the bottom, climb back on board, take in the turns you just made, and think about how it could possibly, or impossibly get better on the next run.

We’ll never know if the guides had this planned all along, or if it was happenstance that our quest around the mountain brought us here and now, but as we crested the top for our last run of the day, the sun getting low in the mid-winter sky, we happened upon the perfect pristine face glistening in the approaching dusk light. One more run towards the Teton Valley floor, my Black Crows perched on the edge.

Bounce like Tigger, I thought. And I did—with smile cramps and cold teeth to last for days.

Different? Unforgettable? Hope we can do it again? Check. Check. And Check.

Four votes for the win.