Jacqueline Kearney

Jackie was lucky enough to grow up skiing in Vermont and has been hooked on the outdoors and snow ever since. After cutting her teeth as an ice skier at Mad River Glen, where she and her three siblings could ski free with their parent’s passes, she pursued higher education in Vermont. Partially motivated by academics, and let's be honest, partially motivated by skiing, Jackie obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Neuroscience from Middlebury College in Vermont while competing for the Track and Field Team. Here she developed a framework for scientific writing and analysis. A few days after graduation Jackie packed up everything and booked it out west to the San Juans in southwest Colorado.

Once winter hit, she knew this would be her home. Jackie was hooked on snow science, avalanche forecasting, and ski mountaineering in the beautiful and complicated Southern Rockies snowpack. In the summer she extended her runs, trail running on the long ridges that are special to the area. After three seasons here, she decided to pursue avalanche mitigation as a ski patroller at Kirkwood Mountain in California, where she worked for several years, including a historic snow year. While in Tahoe, Jackie also was introduced to her new summer love of mountain biking. The San Juan community called loudly, however, and Jackie returned to Colorado to continue the same work. Since moving to Colorado, Jackie has skied in the high mountains all over North America, including the Canadian Rockies, Eastern Sierra, Alaska Range, Tetons, and Montana. There is nothing she enjoys more than a deep day of powder ski touring with a good friend and ski partner, to be followed by snuggles by the fire with her little border collie mix pup.