71: Hilary Eisen on Working Together to Save Our Winter Playground

I first learned about Winter Wildlands Alliance when I attended the backcountry film festival this past fall. Turns out, that’s how today’s guest, Hilary Eisen also learned of the organization about five years prior to that. She is the policy director for Winter Wildlands Alliance, which is dedicated to preserving winter wildlands and quality human-powered snowsports experiences on public lands. Hilary is an avid backcountry skier and climber with a passion for wild landscapes. She works on National Forest winter travel management and other policy issues that affect backcountry skiers. Previously, she worked on public lands conservation in Wyoming and Montana for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and Wilderness Society. She holds a Masters of Science degree in Wildlife Biology from the University of Montana and a B.A. degree in Biology and Environmental Studies from Middlebury College.    We talk today about circuitous life paths and serendipity and how to save the playground we all enjoy. I’m always fascinated to hear how people land where they do and today we spend a fair amount of time exploring Hilary’s path. There are a few reasons for this. I have begun to discover a pattern with the guests on this podcast. They say yes to adventure, they end up taking many routes in life that might seem undirected at the time but end up being totally with purpose in hindsight as a combination of diverse experiences come together to create the perfect job/lifestyle