About us
How it all started...
It all began at a survival weekend. Julia was chatting with a participant & she told her that she would love to go to the mountains but doesn’t know any other hiking enthusiasts. She simply didn’t know how to start and with whom! In the following weeks Julia also heard from women that had recently moved to Switzerland with similar issues. Another women told her that her family and friends do not share the same interests, and she doesn’t know how to find the right people. Some were overwhelmed with planning hikes or hiking by themselves. Julia did a quick research & realized there was no community for female outdoor enthusiasts in Switzerland yet – but other countries already had a lot of similar & popular initiatives. Meet Swissmountaingirls!
Our community invites women from all different parts of Switzerland and gives them a platform where they can connect more easily to other outdoor enthusiasts. Who knows, we might live close by each other already. We regularly organize hikes where everyone can come along.
Our mission
Connect – meet new people
Our platform invites women from all different parts of Switzerland and gives them a platform where they can connect more easily with other women. We regularly organize hikes where everyone can come along!
Inspire – pure inspiration
We want to inspire women to go out and experience the beauty of the Swiss alps and the manifold activities in the mountains! We repost content of other women from Switzerland and may start to post recommended activities on our own.
Empower – share knowledge
We want to share our knowledge and resources that we find to get women with zero knowledge about hiking started. Furthermore we want to focus on offering women only guided activities (with external professionals) in the future!
Meet the team
Julia
Julia has founded Swissmountaingirls in July 2018. She is passionate about the outdoors, photography and loves to connect people. She is based in Zurich and is responsible for the Instagram & Facebook accounts, the website and the admin things. She also enjoys hosting hikes to see how her vision turns into reality!
Instagram: @wunschengel
Katerina
Katerina, living in Zürich during the week and exploring Switzerland during the weekend. Her favorite season is the one without rain and bad weather. Although with the right equipment there’s no bad weather. Katerina is hosting summer and winter activities and she believes that every girl is a born hiker, you just need to step out of your comfort zone and start.
Instagram: @brenkovakaterina
Ariane
After leaving big city life behind and moving from London to Zürich, Ariane rediscovered her love and passion for all things outdoors. Discovering that one could spend time in the mountains as a young family was a great revelation. She wants to encourage families and women to see for themselves that nature is for everyone.
Instagram: @rothluebbers
Tina
Tina has been with us since the beginning of 2021 and supports Julia in strategic business development, community work and graphic work. She is a mountaineer herself and always active outdoors, whether in winter or summer. She also organizes hikes for Swissmountaingirls.
Instagram: @tina_peakartsoul
Vicky
Swapping a major German city for an A-frame in central Switzerland in the middle of nowhere? For Vicky a loud “Yes, here! ME!” Since the beginning of 2020, she has been hiking, running, climbing and skiing in and around the Swiss Alps and can be found on a different mountain peak almost every weekend. Mostly with her senior dogs Carlos and Spike. In doing so, she often encounters male-only groups and finds that extremely disappointing. That’s why she wants to encourage women to leave their comfort zones and find the courage to conquer small and big mountains.
Instagram: @mountain.dogs.me
Vanessa
Vanessa originally from Canada and now living in the Swiss Alps is lucky enough to be able to hike up different mountains on a daily basis. She loves doing the different sports that bring her outside and to nature. She also is passionate about protecting this space that we all love to be in. Working for Patagonia and a board member of POW CH has given her different methods of helping to save and protect what we love.
Instagram: @vanessa7622
Nadine
Nadine loves to be outdoors, be it hiking, climbing, ski touring, kayaking, mountaineering or bivouacking. She is a certified outdoor guide and her heart beats for the mountains, nature and the sun, which is why she is at home in Valais. To share her passion with other women, she organises hikes for Swissmountaingirls.
Instagram: @nadineruedi
Sarah
Sarah emigrated to Switzerland at the beginning of 2021 through her love of the mountains. During the week she works in Zurich and at the weekend she likes to jump around in the mountains or discover other corners of the world. In the summer of 2022, she tried her hand at a three-week solo hike with a tent on the Via Alpina. She would like to share her passion for the mountains, whether with mountaineers or inexperienced interested people – because anyone can start hiking at any time. As Community Manager at SMG, she now supports Julia in a number of social media and organisational matters.
Instagram: @sarah.mouse
Pascale
Having grown up in the middle of the Bernese Seeland, Pascale is drawn to the mountains whenever possible above the fog line: whether on foot, on a rope or with skis under her feet, she loves to be outdoors and discover new places. She enjoys spending these mountain moments with like-minded people and loves sharing her enthusiasm for the mountain world with others. That’s why she is all the more pleased to be supporting Swissmountaingirls in the area of community and organisation.
Instagram: @2pauli