About Us

Our purpose is to cultivate a community for women and genderqueer folks to openly and honestly share their stories of outdoor adventures in the mountains, including helpful gear, food and technical tips, and the emotional and physical challenges unique to women and genderqueer climbers, backcountry skiers and other outdoor activists.

We aim to organically weave together an outdoor women’s and genderqueer community to inspire confident, compassionate, empathic, inclusive, bold and motivated women who encourage us all to find and live our authentic nature and actively reshape our communities and our planet.

Alongside adventure stories, we provide the beta needed to make a mountain adventure possible. In this way, we want to mentor and provide a space for women to learn from other women. We believe sharing the intricacies and challenges of our adventures openly and honestly will give us a broader perspective of each other and the world. We know that confident, connected women make a positive impact on our community and the earth. In building this community, we express gratitude to those who came before us and commitment to the generations that will follow. We strive to steward wilderness and to practice compassion, gratitude and respect for each other, our planet and all sentient beings. Join us. Together we will embolden each other to embrace wild ideas, wild experiences and the preservation of wildness.

Meet our team

Jeannie Wall, Co-founder

she/her

Jeannie Wall is a world class skier and has been an ultra runner for decades. Currently, she is obsessed with climbing in all its forms. She's a rookie gardener who spent three years helping create and run a regional sustainable food cooperative in ID and is passionate about supporting locally sourced farm fresh food. In her early 50’s, she began to realize some of her biggest dreams, like climbing Monte Fitz Roy and the Nose on El Capitan with great women partners, and she still loves to backcountry ski. She has taken some of her passion and focus into actively caring about the world and inspiring women to be their true selves. She is an aspiring meditator and ‘picketarian’ with 25 years experience developing and designing climbing, skiing and endurance apparel for the outdoor industry. One of her nicknames is “The Energizer Bunny.” At Broad Beta, Jeannie is event planner and organizer of the in-person BroadCast events. She also writes and reviews gear, directs and facilitates communications, and produces technical and creative content.

Leslie Gains-Germain, Co-founder

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Leslie Gains-Germain loves outdoor climbing in all its forms - whether it's technical pitches of vertical limestone, big walls in Yosemite Valley, or long romps on tiered ice, she relishes in exploration, adventure, and pushing physical limits. Outside of climbing, Leslie works as a statistical consultant in the environmental sector, building models for predicting location and movement of contamination underground and in lakes and rivers. When she's not working at her computer or exploring the mountains, Leslie spends her time climbing at the local crags or working on her 100-year old adobe house. At Broad Beta, Leslie does web design, web maintenance, financials, and contributes to creative and technical content.

Cat Coe

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Ever since her first lead at Foster Falls in Tennessee, Cat has been devoted to climbing, its lifestyle, and its people. She spent her 20s cutting her teeth in the Tetons and Indian Creek and now lives in Lander, WY. Over the last two decades she has worked in the outdoor industry in various realms including guiding alpine climbing, mountaineering, horsepacking, and backpacking expeditions. Cat now works full-time as a flight nurse and part time in the local ER. In her spare time, Cat is usually found editing photos or playing in her garden. Her favorite climbing memories feature the Uintas, Beartooths, Bitterroot, and Winds. Cat produces the Broad Beta podcast.

Laura Thompson

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Laura grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota where they were a complete city kid. This didn't really change until senior year of college at Colorado State University and they were brought to Vedauwoo and discovered their love for rock climbing and the art of offwidth. After spending a few years traveling and climbing primarily in Rocky Mountain National Park and Indian Creek, Laura landed in Bozeman with the goal of developing roots and forming a community. When they aren't climbing you can find them trail running, painting, and embroidering everything in sight. They are excited to keep working with Broad Beta to increase inclusivity and diversity in the outdoors.

India Maxwell

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India grew up in the Tetons in Wyoming, surrounded by radical mountaineers, but she didn't find her own love of outdoor pursuits until she had left home. She fell in love with climbing about 6 years ago. Over the last six years, she's dedicated her time to trad climbing and spent most of her vacation time on climbing trips all over the West. She lives in Bozeman where she waits tables and goes out for quick morning missions in the canyon outside town. Otherwise she's writing and reading or talking people's ears off about the power of regenerative agriculture and the magic of the natural wine movement. She writes, edits, and co-hosts the Broad Beta podcast.

HAnnah Rogger

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Hannah Rogger is a Canadian backcountry chef who grew up skiing in the foothills of the Cariboo Mountain Range. A devoted cook from a young age, she stepped into her career by spending her summers between college years cooking for hundreds of tree planters deep in British Columbia’s wilderness. She is currently the chef at a ski touring lodge in the Valhalla Ranges, feeding skiers while also finding time to join them on the skin track and the slopes. She finds cooking for people in wilderness settings inspiring and fulfilling. She is Broad Beta’s resident chef and creates content and recipes for Bush Cooking, the backcountry food section of our website. She currently lives on the traditional territory of the Sinixt people (Nelson, BC).

Maria B.

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Maria is a Canadian who grew up in Austin, Texas, where she stumbled into climbing at the age of 17. After graduating with her degree in Computer Science, she moved out West in search of a mountainous backyard. Maria moved to Salt Lake City for four years, where she picked up ice climbing, skiing, and alpine climbing. In 2019, Maria set out on a solo 2000 mile bike tour through the Sierras and Cascades to climb several volcanoes. She currently lives in Bozeman, Montana with her large collection of houseplants. When she’s not outside, Maria enjoys learning about permaculture, gardening, making art, and cooking with friends. Here at Broad Beta, Maria does web design and artistic direction.

Sara Freedwoman

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Sara lives in Bozeman with her dog, Tyler. Originally from the Philadelphia suburbs, she feels most at home living among mountains. Her favorite activities include skiing, rock climbing, hiking, camping, painting, and all things food. She is the owner and founder of Freedwoman Retreats, which connects participants with their inner feminine through moon circles, outdoor experiences, and yoga and meditation. To date she's facilitated retreats for hundreds of participants, creating community and connection. Besides running retreats, Sara works as an analyst in the financial services industry. When she is not working or playing outside, she frequents live music shows, is involved in the local LGBTQ+ community, and volunteers for a few Bozeman non-profits.

Jane Jackson

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Jane Jackson grew up in the Tetons in Wyoming, surrounded by the world of climbing. For the first 18 years of her life, she thought climbing was the most boring activity adults could possibly spend their time doing. In her early 20s, she had an epiphany, re-discovered climbing for herself, and moved to Yosemite Valley. For the past ten years, Jane has pursued ideal climbing conditions in inspiring locations from Yosemite to Patagonia to the Verdon Gorge. Now, she lives in Bishop, California where you can find ideal climbing conditions nearly all the time. When she's not rock climbing, Jane works as a writer, editor, and apprentice jewelry maker. She also loves gardening, cooking, running, and has recently started dabbling in fly fishing in the streams of the High Sierra.

We want your story. Yes, YOU!

If you have shared any kind of climbing or skiing adventure as a team of women or gender-fluid folks, we’d love to share it with our Broad Beta community. This is a space for our untold personal journeys, their joys, sorrows, struggles and epiphanies.

Don't want to write a feature story? There are so many other ways to get involved!
- Write a short story to appear on the @broad.beta Instagram.
- Speak at a BROADCast event.
- Send us a gear review for your favorite piece of gear.
- Email us your questions. Our team has years of outdoor experience we want to share.
- Tag us on Instagram.

Email us at broadbeta@gmail.com and let's share your story!

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Broad Beta is a platform for women to share grassroot stories of wild adventures, and the food, gear, and technical knowledge that accompany them. Our gear reviews provide objective, honest, and thoroughly researched opinions specific to women's fits. Sign up for our email list. We won't spam you and we won't share your information.

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