Skiing from an early age ignited a fire in Caroline’s belly to be in mountain environments which she has managed to achieve for most of her working life. From that first love of skiing, she went on to train in freestyle skiing (balletic and aerials) and then moved on to ski instructing in Austria and Australia. Following this, she specialised in ski patrol, as a pisteur secouriste in France, overcoming the many challenges necessary to achieve these qualifications from l’ENSA in Chamonix.
Later, she would work as an avalanche dog handler with the Fire Brigade in their specialised mountain rescue unit, working with Fjord, her much-missed faithful companion. Recently Caroline set up a small charity (CIC) enabling her to provide talks and workshops to schools and youth groups, which is where her passion lies, educating future mountain lovers whilst on a parallel inspiring young girls to follow professions in the mountains that have been mostly male dominated.
“While awe inspiring and life enhancing, mountains also demand respect as there are potential dangers for those with a lack of knowledge and experience.”
Whilst the winter resorts were shut with the pandemic, Caroline had time to reflect on all that mountains have taught her. She slowly gathered all her snow adventures together along with precious memories Fjord. Little by little she created a children’s book, Fjord’s Mountain Mission, a book all about how to stay safe in the winter resorts, narrated by Fjord her avi dog.
“Prevention is so much better than dealing with the consequences of poor decisions on mountains.”
Caroline wants everyone to feel the deep joy she has felt there, but she also wants everyone to remain as safe as possible. Fjord’s Mountain Mission is slowly growing momentum on a global scale: endorsed by the FIS in Switzerland it is available in English, French, German and Swedish and soon to be released in Norwegian and Japanese. And there is a soft Fjord toy soon to join the team – we all love a hug!