Show Notes:
Lindsay’s Links:
Episode Intro:
Dear listeners of the Female Guides Requested Podcast, happy Wednesday. This is your host, Ting Ting, from Las Vegas. Today our guest is Lindsay Fixmer from Bozeman, Montana.
Lindsay Fixmer is an experienced alpine, ice, and rock climbing guide who has been guiding since 2006. She is on the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) Instructor Team, develops and teaches outdoor programming at Montana State University, and also instructs at indoor facilities. Lindsay spends her winters ice guiding in Montana and Wyoming, spring and fall at various rock venues in the western U.S., and splits her summers between Bozeman and the eastern Sierra. As an AMGA Certified Alpine and Rock Guide, Lindsay brings her passion for climbing to her work, inspiring her clients to excel, build confidence, hone skills, and meet their goals.
We dive deep into the interconnectedness among all different forms of climbing and how learning one can inspire the learning of others, and vice versa. I explored in depth Lindsay’s mission statement, how she emphasizes educating and inspiring people through patience and partnership. We talked about the balance of work and play, mentorship, and more. I learned so much from Lindsay, and listening to her describe ice climbing made me want to pick up ice tools again.
Things We Talked about:
- Climbing career started early
- Indoor versus outdoor climbing
- Potential side gig
- Lindsay’s mission statement
- A life-changing experience – 12 year old backpacked through Canyonlands
- All women’s trip to India and first ascents in Northern Himalayas
- Guiding and doing first ascents with Chicks Climbing and Skiing
- “Ice is my life” – Lindsay’s ice climbing journey
- The interconnectedness of rock climbing and ice climbing and all climbing
- Work/play balance
- Mentorship and Tom Hargus’s inspiring quote “the day I stop learning is the day I stop guiding.”
- Performance anxiety?
Quotes:
- If you enjoy watching people succeed and become more knowledgeable and more skilled, then it [guiding] is very rewarding work.
- I’ve been teaching ice climbing for a long time, but you’re always learning something new and the way that people respond to the words that you’re using and also the descriptors and the movement, you continually learn how people differently see things and respond.
- …even rock to ice. We say that they’re very different, but I don’t think that’s true because you’re either in or out of balance in life. So Our ergonomics don’t change. It’s just the medium.
- It is very much a partnership. you have to feel confident that your guide is with you and they can relate to you and understand and help you.
- Patience is a massive component of helping people succeed and opening that door to being more vulnerable and being okay with that.
- …when you really realize how small you are and how large the Earth and the universe is. And it was pretty amazing.
- Oftentimes you had to make adjustments based on the conditions and how to get off of something that you had climbed. It wasn’t always just V-thread really straightforward. There were some more interesting ways of getting off of things.
- Ice is always changing. It’s never the same. The routes always change, which is pretty cool.
- If you’ve shut yourself off to learning or just don’t want to do it anymore more. You’re on to something else in your life.
