Three years ago, Julie McGuire, a High School English teacher in the South Bronx, came home from work eager to set off on another weekend in the Catskills, only to find her wife waiting to declare the end of their marriage. The sudden announcement threw Julie into a deep depression fueled by days full of self-loathing and nights full of NyQuil; she admits that she lost the will to live.

Julie slowly regained her mojo by throwing herself into her love of backcountry skiing - hiking uphill, away from the resorts of the Catskill Mountains, and skiing her own routes back down. To better plan her winter Catskills descents off the beaten paths, she took to hiking the mountains out of ski season, and after completing the region's 35 peaks above 3500ft, plus the four mandated additional hikes in winter, she recently became – by pure coincidence – the 3500th member of the Catskill 3500 Club. She now routinely wears a ‘Queen of the Catskills’ t-shirt and posts colorful pictorial essays about her almost daily adventures hiking and skiing the back country, usually accompanied by a Double IPA (or two).

In this interview, Julie and I talk openly about divorce, the outcome for 39% of American marriages, and the healing process that takes longer than expected. Julie walks me, an avid if amateur 'on-piste' skiier, through the attractions and technical aspects of backcountry skiing, explains why she endures the challenges of the mountains, and why she is hosting back country clinics limited to women and people of color. To try and match the giddy heights of Julie’s daily achievements, I recorded all my voice overs while hiking Blackhead Mountain in deep snow and ice as I close in on my own 3500 Club badge.

Find Julie McGuire on Instagram

and on Facebook

The full Zoom interview on YouTube.

Excerpts from Julie McGuire's essay on hiking the 3500s as a way out of divorce.

The Catskill 3500 Club web site

Ski Touring for Beginners in Ski magazine

How to start Backcountry Skiing: A primer video from Mappy Hour.

An introduction to splitboards.

Catskill Outpost, for your very own Queen of the Catskills t-shirt.

For questions or comments, or to subscribe to the newsletter, e-mail [email protected]

Join One Step Beyond on social media at:

Instagram is OneStepBeyondPodcast

Facebook is One Step Beyond with Tony Fletcher

Twitter is OneStepBeyondP1

And your host can be found here:

tonyfletcher.net

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.