ABOUT SAFE AS
S.A.F.E. A.S. Clinics is a women's tailored, beginner to experienced friendly, avalanche awareness and safety clinic. Founded by Elyse Saugstad, Jackie Paaso, Michelle Parker, Ingrid Backstrom, Lel Tone and Sherry McConkey with the intention to foster an open, welcoming and enthusiastic environment to encourage participation and communication in the mountains during the winter safely. The clinics are one day, introductory level courses based on AIARE curriculum. Partial proceeds from the events are donated to snow community non-profits.
INSTRUCTORS
Lead Instructor/Guide LEL TONE has been a member of the Squaw Valley Ski Patrol since 1994 and the Assistant Avalanche Forecaster since 2004. Lel has been a helicopter ski guide in Alaska for Chugach Powder Guides and Tordrillo Mountain Lodge for the last 20 years. She is a licensed Avalanche Blaster in the state of California and an Avalanche control route leader at Squaw. She is a certified AIARE (American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education) Level 1 and 2 Avalanche Instructor. Lel has been teaching avalanche courses in Tahoe and around the West for the last 20 years. Lel also won National Geographic’s “Ultimate Survivor: Alaska” and has filmed ski segments with Warren Miller Productions.
Instructor/Pro Skier ELYSE SAUGSTAD was raised in Girdwood, Alaska and since that time became passionately involved with freeride and backcountry skiing as a professional skier. Between 2007 and 2009 Elyse won many International Freeride competitions and was crowned Freeride World Tour Champion in 2008. Since then Elyse has turned to filming wherein she has won Powder Magazine’s Video Award’s “Best Female Performance” in 2013 for her segment in Teton Gravity Research’s Co-Lab and again in 2018 for her segment in Matchstick Production’s All In. Additionally Elyse was named Freeskier’s Female Skier of the Year” in 2019. Through her unique experiences as a professional athlete Elyse had the opportunity to give a TEDx Talk in San Francisco in 2013. Elyse has worked with Chugach Powder Guides and Big Mountain Trips as a guest athlete/host. She has completed an AIARE L1 course.
Instructor/Pro Skier INGRID BACKSTROM is considered to be one of the most influential professional big mountain skiers in the world. She has appeared in 9 Matchstick Productions movies, three Warren Miller Entertainment Films, ‘All.I.Can.’ by the Rocky Mountain Sherpas, the documentary Steep, and has won Powder Magazine’s ‘Best Female Performance’ five times. She considers herself extremely fortunate that skiing has taken her all around the globe, including Pakistan, Antarctica, Greenland, and first descents in Baffin Island and on 20,000ft. Reddomaine Peak in China. She has completed an AIARE L1 course.
Instructor/Pro Skier JACKIE PAASO has been a professional skier and a member of the Squaw Valley Freeride Team since 2009. She spends the majority of her winters competing on the Freeride World Tour and has many notable results like winning the 2016 Verbier Extreme and , the 2012, 2014 Chamonix event, and the 2010 Squaw Valley event. She filmed with Warren Miller Entertainment for their 2012 movie “Flow State” exploring the Norwegian Arctic. Jackie has been expanding her knowledge of big mountains and avalanche terrain all over the world. Recently she was named one of ESPN’s top 50 Females in Action Sports along with Ingrid, Michelle and Elyse. She has completed an AIARE L1 and L2 course.
Instructor/Pro Skier MICHELLE PARKER is a professional skier who was born and raised in Squaw Valley, CA and has been a member of the Squaw Valley Freeride Team since 2006. After competing in X Games events for Slopestyle and Halfpipe, Michelle turned her focus on filming and has been in Matchstick Productions' last five ski movies. She was awarded IF3’s and Powder Awards ‘Best Female Performance’ in 2013. Michelle is addicted to chasing winter in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and has spent the past 8 summers guiding in Argentina. Michelle spends most of her time in the mountains skiing, climbing, and mountain biking. She is on the board for High Fives Non-profit, is an ambassador for both Alpine Initiatives and Climate Reality, and has raised over $18,000 for the Sarah Burke Foundation. Philanthropy is equally as important to her as she see’s skiing as an outlet to inspire and create a positive change. She has completed an AIARE L1 course.
Yoga Instructor/Community Advocate SHERRY MCCONKEY is an outdoor enthusiast who has been teaching yoga for ten years. She is a certified Anusara teacher, a form of yoga that focuses on alignment. Anusara is great for athletes to help with restorative stretching/yoga whereupon your body can heal, gain strength, clear the mind, and ultimately enhance your athletic performance. She has been a featured instructor at the Wanderlust Festival two times. Sherry notably is also the founder of the Shane McConkey Foundation, a Tahoe non-profit organization. Sherry is in the process of completing her AIARE L1 course.
GUEST INSTRUCTORS
Guest Instructor/Pro Skier CODY TOWNSEND hails from Santa Cruz, CA but was raised on the slopes of of Squaw Valley, CA. You may recognize his name from the infamous "Line of the Year" aka "The Crack" in 2014 from Matchstick Productions' film Days of My Youth, but beyond that one line Cody has starred in more than 20 ski films over the past decade. Cody also competed on the Freeride World Tour and was named one of the Top 50 Adventurous Men in the World by Men's Journal. From winning "Best Male Performance", "Full Throttle" in addition to "Line of the Year" at the 2014 Powder Magazine Video Awards to first ascents and descents in British Columbia and Alaska, Cody has put together a career with many accomplishments but always cites that the best skiers on the mountain are those that are having the most fun.
Guest Instructor/Pro Snowboarder KAM WEAKLEY lives and works as a year round guide in the beautiful San Juan mountains outside of Purgatory, CO. There he embraces his splitboard passion by guiding in the backcountry and educating through avalanche safety courses through San Juan Expeditions. Kam has his Wilderness First Responder, is a certified AIARE Instructor, and is an assistant AMGA rock climbing guide and apprentice AMGA splitboard guide. When Kam is not guiding or instructing he also spends time shooting photos with well-known photographers.
Guest Instructor/Pro Skier CONNOR RYAN comes from the Hunkpapa Lakota tribe and is an ambassador for Natives Outdoors. He grew up on the Front Range of Colorado and formed his relationship to the mountains skiing Eldora, Winter Park, and the surrounding backcountry. He has dedicated his life to advocating for Indigenous peoples and the environmental protection of their homelands. His traditional culture and language serve as a bridge to give him greater context for the relationship skiing has allowed him to form with the land. Within the sport of skiing he seeks to create cultural shifts that place much greater focus on the depth of our relationship to nature and the importance of making the outdoors a more diverse and inclusive space for all. He and his work have been featured by Teton Gravity Research, Outside, and most recently Powder magazine.