New Perspective, New Beginning: SheJumps Grand Teton Fundraising Climb is Transformative for Co-Founder

SheJumps Co-Founder, Vanessa Pierce

When SheJumps co-founder Vanessa Pierce signed up for the 2025 Grand Teton Fundraising Climb, she thought she was simply stepping into a physical challenge and supporting the organization she helped build. What she didn’t expect was how profoundly the experience would reset her perspective, reconnect her to community, and remind her of the transformative power of outdoor play.

In this reflection, Vanessa shares her personal story of resilience, rediscovery, and the unique magic that happens when women come together to take on something bigger than themselves.

“From the top of the Grand Teton, the sight of extreme drop-offs and endless views of

deep glacier-carved moraines feel like looking out across the moon. The horizon is

segmented, hazy pink morphing into brilliant blue skies. Though not a “14-er,” there’s no

doubt why this famous 13,775-foot national park peak became the birthplace of

American mountaineering.

After three summits of the Grand Teton, there’s one particular spot, just past the crest of

the saddle enroute to the summit, that is breathtaking and my purest memory. In just

moments, the sunrise breathes warmth into the valley, transforming darkness into

peacefulness. Here, there’s a moment between fear and safety—the pinnacle of

decision—where you move past the risk and embrace a new perspective.

I’m truly lucky to have summited the Grand three times, but this time was extra perfect.

It was 18 years after I summited for the first unofficial SheJumps (SJ) climb in 2007 with

10 women. Back then, SJ had just become an official nonprofit with no formal

programming. The organization was fueled by two ingredients: 1. collective women-

centered energy and 2. a passion to connect to each other and nature through outdoor

Activities.

Those ingredients have remained our foundation and led to SJ becoming a nation-wide

nonprofit built on delivering “outdoor play that transforms” to women and girls. As a co-

founder, I was excited to finally experience an official fundraising climb and personally

witness how these climbs impact our participants, unbeknownst to the transformation it

would bring me.

New Beginning

When my best friend and SJ co-founder Claire Smallwood asked if I wanted to fill one of

the last few spots for the climb, I saw it as a sign. I had a rough year going through

divorce, juggling a new full-time job managing a team, taking on house duties alone,

and co-parenting an 8-year-old through the transition. I was overwhelmed, stressed,

and barely making time for myself. I needed a reset. Obviously, the answer was yes. To

me it felt like a perfect convergence of SJ medicine—taking a jump into the

unknown—committing to a physically difficult outdoor challenge, making new friends,

and fundraising for SJ to further its mission to increase the participation of women and

girls in the outdoors. I don’t get scared easily, but this terrified me at the same time. I

was already at capacity. To add to the stress, I was so out of shape and signed up late.

How could I fundraise $3,800 and possibly get fit enough to do a nearly 20-mile, 7,000-foot vertical hike and technical climb in 8 weeks? Good thing I like impossible

Challenges.

During those 8 weeks, I was not only surprised by my own grit, but I was also amazed

by the support from others, both cheering me on and donating (see My Fundraising

Journey below).

Overcoming the ‘Critical Kraken’

After I moved from Jackson Hole to Salt Lake City in 2007, I had made the excuse that

hiking was a thing of the past, believing my soccer-injury knees (from playing collegiate

soccer) wouldn’t stand up to the challenge, especially the down part. This fundraising

climb was a chance to challenge my own inner critic, who I call “Critical Kraken.” Turns

out, my knees were fine, and I was finally open to exploring the world-class hikes just 5

minutes from my house, like Grandeur Peak and Mt. Olympus. Though I have had every

chance to be in nature (skiing, biking, fly fishing, camping), there was something about

hiking that allowed me to observe nature in a slow, up-close way. When I finally went

inside the canyons, scaled the peaks, and saw the close-up perspective of summer

growth, it was perspective altering.

I was transformed over 8 weeks. My overwhelm was tempered by peace. Nature and

gaining physical strength became my medicine. Somewhere in the black hole of time, I

had placed more importance on adulting—knees, work, divorce, parenting (fill in the

blank)—that displaced my agency, that flame in me who loves adventure, exploring

possibilities, and igniting inspiration in others.

New Perspective

When I met everyone on the first day of the event, I was curious. What brought them

here? What was their motivation? When you get older, it’s not easy to find community,

but SJ has a way to bring women together. Surprisingly, I had commonalities with all of

them. Thirty-to-forty-somethings that dealt with balancing adulting, career, and/or

Parenting.

2025 SheJumps Grand Teton Climbers

There was Shaye, Amber, Crystal, Tricia, Crystal, Candice,

Christa and her 14-year-old daughter, Quinn who showed us all a thing or two, and one

of my best buds, Katie, who joined me for the adventure. They all had their reasons:

Most have become SJ fundraising climb regulars. We joked that SJ could create

programming for the ADHD dopamine addicted moms because it’s a safe place and

natural medicine to enjoy therapy and comradery among women who experience the

same adulting struggles.

Then there were the amazing guides: Holly, Peggy, Kelsey, Rebecca “Guda,” and Lisa.

These women were so patient and compassionate. My special gift was having Lisa as

my guide, my friend from Jackson Hole, who I hadn’t seen in 18 years. Our mutual

friend, Julia, had taken us up the Grand on that special first unofficial climb those many

years ago. We spent hours on summit day reconnecting and laughing over memories

and trying to remember how we met in the first place—we finally remembered it was as

ski instructors at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. Since then, she and Julia were the first

all-women team to ski the Grand, and though not official, Lisa may hold the record of

Grand Teton summits for a woman (though even she can’t tally the accurate number,

maybe 150-plus). To have an-all woman cast, especially in a male-dominated

mountaineering world, Jackson Hole Mountain Guides delivered. It was full-circle

Serendipity.

Holly, our lead guide, told SJ that the “group was psyched, prepared, and

supportive—everything a guide could ask for. Thank you for making Grand Teton FC a

climb to remember.”

Gush.

Though not all of us summited, I want to empathetically emphasize that saying, “It’s not

about the destination, it’s about the journey.” Experience and growth gained during the

process of pursuing a goal are just as, if not more, important than achieving the

outcome. It may be easy for me to say that, as I did summit, but I want to shout out to

anyone on our many annual climbs who didn’t make it, because you showed up, and

made an impact on others by taking a gamble on yourself to be vulnerable and shoot for

the stars. Courage is contagious. Just by trying, you are inspiring.

This concept is not easy for me. I’m wildly competitive, and on the first day, I wanted to

test my fitness and get to the saddle, first. Claire calls this “horse mode,” where I will

foam at the mouth to get to the destination. The next day, Lisa re-enforced the journey

message—getting to the summit is about pace, it’s not a race to the top. This still didn’t

hit home until after we gutted it out to the summit—experiencing “screaming barfies” on

the Pownall- Gilkey Route and telling my climbing partner I’d throw her off the summit. (I

still love you, Katie). After that, I got clarity as we had a casual 5-hour decent blabbing

about nothingness and everythingness. We blew time by asking Lisa if we could

glissade the glacier. No. At one point, Katie pretended to be scared by a wild animal in a

crawl space, and Lisa and I laugh/cried by her unexpected trick. I needed a reminder

that this adventure wasn’t about me, as much as it was our collective effort to do good.

Our individual goals were wrapped in something bigger than one person; we were

dependent on our climbing partners, our community, to make the journey. I summited,

but on the way down from the saddle, I tweaked my bad knee. I horse-moded as best I

could, but I was the caboose. I was humbled yet felt invincible. When we got to the

trailhead, we naturally decided to regroup and celebrate our stories over food and

drinks. No one bragged. No one stood out. We laughed over getting up at 2 am to

summit in high-altitude haziness, almost losing the SJ banner in the wind at the summit,

surviving the 11,000-foot hail/lightning apocalypse, packing out our poop, and tourists

trying to take bear selfies. We invited each other to our hometowns to continue

adventures or commit to the next climb. There was no ego, just joy and gratitude for

doing a hard thing with strangers who became new friends. That is the magic of SJ

Events.

Now that I’m back home, back to reality and the grind of daily life, I’ve challenged myself

to take the lessons learned from this experience to keep slowing down, observing,

connecting, and constantly re-evaluating priorities because it’s easy to get trapped in

“responsibilities.” We forget that the definition of responsibility is having time to respond,

and that can only happen by taking care of yourself and leaning on your community for

Help.

I will always remember that sunrise on my way to the summit, but my fondest memories

of this adventure are of old and new friends sharing stories and recognizing that

community is the real medicine of life. SJ offers outdoor community-focused outdoor

programming as a vessel to self-discovery. I will never take that for granted. Thank you

to all the women on this climb and the donors who made an impact on me. I am

honored. I am grateful. We are the personification of “outdoor play that transforms.”

My Fundraising Journey

My fundraising strategy was to ask everyone I knew to donate, whether they were in it

to support me or felt inspired by SJ’s mission. I personally asked friends and co-workers

(mostly men, as I work in civil engineering, hoping they’d at least be inspired to share

my story with the women in their lives). Asking for donations is hard, but I know from

personal experience that asking people personally to give with your reason “why” is

much more powerful than relying on social media. For the record, I dislike social media

and rarely engage, but I did this time to share my training journey.

I asked my son to be my “trainer,” and it was hit or miss. On one hike, he had to poop halfway up in a water shed! I told him, “It’s ok to go, but we need to pack it out.” He “turtled” the entire way up, so we eventually went down. The next weekend on a solo mission, as Karma has it, I also had to “go” in a watershed, so I took one for the environmental stewardship team, to share with him that we can do hard things. I pooped into a jerky bag and will spare you the details.

Through those social media stories of taking my “trainer” on hikes, I was

over-the-moon surprised when I got a $500 donation, my biggest, from a college soccer

teammate who I haven’t spoken to in years. Upon reaching out, I discovered she was

inspired by “trainer” and believed I could do it because I was a “badass.” (FYI,

confidence booster for me as I believed I was just “surviving”).

I also was surprised to find out when I asked a co-worker, that she had participated in SJ events and couldn’t believe I was the founder (obviously, she donated). Story after story, I wish I could tell them all. When you are forced out of your comfort zone, you are amazed by people willing to support you and the mission. Our organization relies on individual donors

giving an average of $50 to make our programming real. That’s the power of the SJ

fundraising climbs. People want to support you, and our organization depends on the

individual networks of women who will ask their people. Our fundraising climb group

raised $34k for SJ. In 8 weeks, I was able to make $3,400, and had I been given more

time, I knew I could easily get the funds, but I also wanted to show my personal

dedication to fundraising and was privileged enough to pay the remaining $400.”

-Vanessa Pierce, SheJumps co-founder, 2025 Grand Teton Fundraising Climber

Vanessa’s story is a powerful reminder that SheJumps Fundraising Climbs aren’t just about summiting mountains—they’re about courage, connection, and the lasting impact of outdoor play that transforms.

We’re grateful to every climber and donor who makes these journeys possible. And the adventure continues: our 2026 Fundraising Climbs officially launch September 23rd. Stay tuned for details!

2026 Fundraising Climbs