Super Women
Photos by Todd Powell
Jody Thompson’s relaxed demeanor belies her legendary reputation as an exceptionally hardcore mountain athlete known for her ice climbing prowess, telemarking success and more.
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Sometimes it takes a city gal to remind a mountain woman that she is different. Perhaps it’s that permanent bike-short tan line that gives it away. Or the wind-burned cheeks after an epic powder day. Then there are the smile lines and crows feet, big quads and broad shoulders.
There are hundreds of women in Summit County who fit this image, but what follows are the stories of four, each of whom has a passion for mountains and cannot imagine living anywhere else. These are four beautiful women, but with a different kind of beauty — one nourished from time spent outdoors where confidence has grown deep because they are doing what they love, in a place they love.
JODY THOMPSON
THE MOM AND MOUNTAINEER
Way back in the late eighties, at the young age of 16, Jody Thompson was already a junior ski patroller in upstate New York with a budding dream of becoming a nurse and living in the mountains.
During a stint as a traveling nurse in Denver, she visited Summit County and knew this had to be her next home. She met her future husband, Mark, a couple years later and it was he who inspired her to pursue further the world of ice and rock.
Many of us had heard about “Jody, the ice climber” and were in awe. She fell in love with this mostly male sport but luckily met Kim Clark, another female ice climber, who was equally keen to improve. Soon they gained the reputation as two of the most hardcore mountain athletes in the county.
It didn’t take long before Jody set her sights on summiting the big peaks — Mt. Rainier, Mt. McKinley and an even an attempt on the technical Ama Dablam. Meanwhile, she continued telemarking; she is widely known as incredible free heel skier, winning the 3-pin grin six times, and usually coming in as a top finisher in the Breckenridge Bump Buffett.
Then, in 2002-03, Jody’s life went through a rollercoaster of events. She gave birth to a 24-ounce premi, Hans, and had to move to Denver for a year to be close to her new infant whose first months were spent in a hospital. He was barely a year old, and thoughts of climbing were far from her mind.
When she got a phone call from a female climber from California who was putting together a sponsored expedition of the first American women team to attempt Mt. Everest, she assumed Mark would talk her out of it. But when he encouraged her to look into it, she did, and a few weeks later the rest of the team flew to Colorado to meet Jody and train.
Her team came 285 feet shy of the summit of Everest, weather and altitude sickness turning them around like so many others. Jody accepted the disappointing reality with her usual good-natured resolve.
At 45, being a mom hasn’t slowed her down much at all. A few days before this interview, she had skied a steep couloir off Loveland Pass, was training the same day for the A-Basin enduro, and planning to take the family to the desert for some mountain biking the following day.
