Who are we?
Stay Wild was born out of a deep appreciation for the mountains and a desire to educate others to explore the backcountry safely & confidently.
After quitting her 9-to-5 eight years ago, our founder, Britt, began to spend as much time as possible in the backcountry each winter.
Constantly in pursuit of new zones to explore with her sled & splitboard, Britt is taught daily by the mountains about the complex factors that go into making decisions that respect both the human and environmental conditions of a ride.
Britt created Stay Wild to educate, inspire, and empower others to deepen their love and knowledge of the backcountry with practical skills & hands-on training.
In a male-dominated industry, Stay Wild offers exclusive women’s-only classes in addition to our co-ed camps. As a female-led company, our instructors have been the only female in the shred crew or avy safety course way too often. While we love the men that come out for our co-ed camps & our 2 token instructors, there’s something magical about like-minded ladies learning together and having a killer day on the mountain.
All of our camps and courses are highly immersive, welcoming, and meant for shredders & sledders at all stages and experience levels.
Listen
If you want to get to know us better check out the links below and listen in!
Reviews
Check out what our lovely students have to say about their experience with Stay Wild.
Instructors / Coaches
Meet our team!
Brittney
Owner, Lead Instructor, Lead Coach
Brittney is the founder and owner of Stay Wild Backcountry Skills. She grew up in the country just outside of Grand Forks, BC. With an original Whistler ski bum patroler as her dad she was on skis just after she learned to walk and traded the two planks for one when she was 7. Learning to ride on the little mountain of Phoenix and travelling to nearby resorts such as Red Mountain and Whitewater it didn’t take long for her to fall in love with the mountains. Brittney found herself in Golden BC just over 10 years ago and hasn't looked back since. She had already been sledding for 5 years mainly in Revelstoke and quickly jumped into Splitboarding when she arrived. Spending 5-6 days a week in the mountains she has explored and knows the ins and outs of the zones around Golden. She has completed her Canadian Avalanche Association Level 2 Avalanche Operations, 90 hour wilderness first aid, Avalanche Search & Rescue Advanced Skills, Intro to Weather and is a professional member of the CAA. With 12 years experience on a sled and 8 years on a splitboard she is full of tips and tricks to either get you started or to take your riding to the next level. She is passionate about teaching Avalanche Safety and spreading knowledge to others in the backcountry.
Jamie
AST instructor - Golden
Jamie taught for us for 3 years & then left us for the corporate world. We were able to convince her after one season away that being an adult is overrated & she should come back to the ski everyday life! Jamie enjoys biking, skiing, dogs, beers,hiking, outdoors and telling her best jokes to students during courses. She has been living in Golden for 11 years. 5 of those years were spent patrolling at Kicking horse followed by 6 years tail guiding at Chatter Creek.<br /> Jamie completed her CAA level 2, is an active member of the CAA and is a paramedic for BC ambulance. She just bought a new to her sled and is so pumped to be joining the world of digging!! She is looking forward to a season full of skiing, snowboarding, sledding and teaching!!
Kat
AST instructor - Golden
Kat Beets, our resident Kiwi-Canadian, cut her teeth on the icy wind buffed slopes of the New Zealand Alps. The blow your hair back conditions definitely made her who she is today!</p> <p>Kat has 20+ years in the patrol game as a patrol leader and avalanche tech in NZ, California and the Rockies. She comes with a wealth of knowledge as deep as the Monashee snowpack and experience to boot. As a veritable snow connoisseur, she’s finally seen the light come to Golden where the snow doesn’t quit.</p> <p>Kat is one of the newest instructors to our roster, and she comes with a finger tight attitude. Tight but loose but tight. With that vibe, she brings a hell of a good time- and safe time- to our students.
Alex
Lead Instructor, Forecaster, OG token male
Alex is currently our token male, he is patient & creates a comfortable learning environment + he puts up with all us ladies! Alex has been patrolling at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort for 13 years and is a level 3 Pro Patroller. Growing up on the slopes of Fortress Mountain Resort and Fernie Alpine Resort Alex had no problem transitioning to the small town mountain life in Golden BC. Alex has a long list of qualifications and accomplishments including; CAA Level 2 Avalanche Operations, CAA professional member, Worksafe BC blaster used for avalanche control and NUOEC fist aid ticket. Alex has been teaching Sled AST’s for six years and ski AST’s for KHMR over the past 9 years. In the winter no matter what day of the week it is you can find Alex on his skis and / or sled enjoying the unique terrain and deep snow that surrounds us in Golden.
Alice
Office Admin Extraordinaire
During her first winter in Golden in 2019, Alice completed her AST1 with Stay Wild and has embraced touring as part of her winters ever since (yes, even the gruelling skin-track up). Considering she spent her childhood between Africa and Asia, the mere fact that she can tolerate a whole day outside in the depth of Canadian winter is an accomplishment in itself. She spends her days off snowboarding at Kicking Horse and in the backcountry in the winter and mountain biking and trail running in the summer. As you can imagine growing up in equatorial climates, Alice was a late bloomer to snowboarding. What she lacks in years of experience, she makes up in dad jokes and enthusiasm. Not to worry, though, because she's a freak in the spreadsheets, and that's about all that counts as Stay Wild's office administrator.
Arièle
AST Instructor - Golden
Arièle hails from the icy slopes of the Laurentian Mountains near Montreal. Her passion for skiing came naturally as the daughter of two ski patrollers and outdoor enthusiasts. When it came time to pay for her own ski pass, she swiftly made her way into the ski bum life and began ski instructing on weekends while in school. After discovering the freedom and opportunities that came with a seasonal forestry career out West, Arièle committed to a life in the West Kootenays, where she worked ski instructing, patrolling and tail guiding in Rossland for five years. After obtaining her OPS 1, Advanced Search and Rescue and Introduction to Weather courses and now an active member of the Canadian Avalanche Association, she is now teaching AST 1 courses in Golden and working as an avalanche technician in Northern BC. Her passions for ski touring, alpine climbing and cats keep her schedule quite busy, but if you’re lucky, you might catch her baking some Montreal bagels in her new home in town.
Alaina
Sled camp coach
Alaina is originally from Ontario, where she spent all her free time skiing or dreaming about skiing. So it’s not surprised that the minute she turned 18, she moved to the mountains and traded her park skis for some big mountain ones. Unfortunately, it’s in these big mountains that Alaina found out she suffers from cold injuries including chilblains, frostbite, and Reynolds, which limited her ability to get after it. Until she found sledding. Sledding turned out to be the warmest winter activity, scratched that itch to play in the mountains in the winter AND allowed her to keep the cold injuries under control (PS: if you suffer from similar injuries, she is always keen to share her experience and solutions). Alaina now spends all of her free time sledding to access remote terrain, or day dreaming about it. She thrives off of the feeling of deep pow turns and playing with the relationship of throttle, break, and weight to control her beloved sled.
Mel
AST instructor - Kimberley
Mel worked on ski patrol at Kicking Horse for 7 seasons. She lived in Golden for 12 years and recently moved back to her hometown, Kimberley, B.C. Mel resides in Kimberley fulltime. She is an initial attack crew leader for the BC wildfire service in the summer. Mel is a professional member of the CAA, and has her professional level 2. She has taught AST courses in Golden and this will be her first season teaching with Stay Wild. She holds a valid NUEC 3 / OFA 3 first aid ticket. Mel also works for Golden Alpine Holidays in the winter. If she isn’t teaching or working at GAH, you’ll find Mel exploring the backcountry around Kimberley with her pup, Douglas Fur. She is stoked to be a part of this awesome team and can’t wait to get out in the backcountry and share her local knowledge around Kimberley/Cranbrook.
Madeline
AST Instructor - Fernie & Castle Mountain
Madeline grew up in the States before moving to British Columbia to study at Quest University in Squamish. There she studied Earth Science, volunteered as an avalanche educator for the outdoor club, and deeply enjoyed exploring the Coast Mountains on her skis. Her on-snow career began in Steamboat Springs, Colorado where she spent 5 seasons working as a ski instructor. She is starting her fourth season on patrol at Castle Mountain Resort in Southern Alberta and is taking her Operations Level 2 with the Canadian Avalanche Association this winter. She spends her summers guiding 6-day wilderness river trips in Central Idaho on the Middle Fork and Main Salmon. Driven by nights spent under the stars, deep personal connections formed in natural settings, skiing pow, and getting up high in the mountains, she feels grateful to work year round in these environments. She wholeheartedly believes in place-based education as a tool to facilitate relatedness to our mountainous environments and belonging to and in those spaces.
Janja
AST instructor - Big White
Janja's roots go back to Slovenia, a country on the sunny side of the Alps. It's where her love for sports and outdoors started. Back home she completed a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology. She has been skiing since she was 4 years old and immigrated to Canada in 2015. Since then she has been working in the ski resort industry in multiple positions such as ski instructor, Nordic instructor and snowshoe guide. Currently she works as a ski patroller at Big White Resort. Janja completed her CAA Level 1 and has been working with the avalanche safety industry where she hopes to advance further.
Sam
Assistant instructor - Big White
As a kid born and raised in The Bahamas, the only connection I had to skiing was through the t.v. When I was 10 I first came to British Columbia and immediately fell in love. I would continue to visit every summer for a number of years until I moved here when I was 20. I’ve always been surrounded by water my entire life, so being in B.C. I traded wet for cold and learned how to ski. I’ve been working on ski hills since then as a ski instructor, lift maintenance and ski patrol. And funding my winter life as a tree planter in the summers. I currently work at Big White as a full time ski patrol and avalanche technician on the control team. I have a CAA level 1, OFA3 and hope to become a ski guide some day.
Sara
AST instructor - Big White
Born in December in the middle of a snow storm, you can say Sara has always been in love with snow. She got her start in the Ski industry as a Ski Instructor more than 20 years ago. Sara moved into patrol in 2003 and loved the duality of mountain and medical and became a Paramedic in 2005. After a healthy career in ski patrol Sara took a leap into mechanized ski guiding, guiding at both Snow Cat and Helicopter Operations. Sara is a natural student and teacher, finding joy and fulfilment when learning new skills and then passing that knowledge on to people who desire to learn. Sara began her avalanche career in an AST 1 just like the course you’re about to take. More than 10 years later Sara is a CAA level 2 and bursting at the seams with knowledge just waiting be to be passed on.
Zoe
AST instructor - Revelstoke
Originally from The States, Zoe made the move North 7 years ago and hasn’t looked back. She currently calls Revelstoke, BC home. She has been working in the guiding industry since 2016 spending most of her time between CMH Heli-Skiing and Icefall Lodge. She is an apprentice ski guide through the ACMG, has completed her Level 2 Avalanche Operations with the CAA, and her 80 hour Wilderness First Responder. In her free time, you will find Zoe in the mountains skiing or climbing or hanging with her son, Rylan. She is stoked to share her knowledge and help more people explore the backcountry.
Sylvia
AST Instructor - Golden & Revy
A passionate mountaineer with a wide range of skiing and climbing experience, Sylvia is happiest outside, especially when sharing the stoke with others. Growing up in BC, she’s always loved the fluffy white stuff but never intended to make a career out of it. She used to be very serious, studying economics and working as a financial advisor, until she realized all she wanted to do with money was buy skis. Finding true joy in the mountains, she decided to dedicate her life to them. This will be her third year getting nerdy about avalanches with students. She also works as a tail guide with Monashee Powder Snowcats. She holds an 80-hour first aid ticket, is a CAA Active Member, and will be geeking out on her CAA Avalanche Operations Level 2 course this winter. Summertime, she teaches rock climbing and leads via ferrata adventures. She believes that when we challenge ourselves outside, we are able to tap into a deeper strength and bring that with us into the rest of our lives. She is excited to empower students with knowledge and skills this winter, and have fun doing it!
Andrew
AST Instructor - Revelstoke
Andrew has always enjoyed getting outside to explore - the less traveled the path the better. Being born and raised in Revelstoke BC, he was lucky to have easy access to incredible terrain, so hiking, biking and skiing some of BC’s best was part of his regular day to day growing up. He translated that recreational passion to work, where he served as a lift mechanic for RMR for many years, before chasing the dream of skiing more and working less, becoming a ski practicum and tail guide for the cat skiing company Mustang Powder. After starting a family of his own, he slowed down his pace of life and took the chance to share some glimmers of old school mountain culture with his daughter: they moved to Vancouver Island and spent three seasons working for the remote, north island ski hill Mount Cain. He recently returned to his hometown of Revelstoke to work as a Ski patroller at Revelstoke Mountain Resort, as well as teach all things backcountry safety with Stay Wild Backcountry.
