The Basics
Company Name: Granite Backcountry Alliance (GBA)
Location: North Conway, New Hampshire
Founded: September 19, 2016
Full-Time Employees: We are a non-profit with 10 board members, 10 ambassadors, and just shy of 700 members. GBA is managed by Backyard Concept, LLC, an outdoor advocacy firm, which maintains two employees.
Products: We promote the sport of backcountry skiing and riding in New Hampshire and Western Maine.
Social: Instagram // Facebook
Claim to Fame: Leading the backcountry movement in the Northeast and developing an eight-zone glade network across New Hampshire and Maine containing over 30,000 vertical feet of skiing.
The Culture
The best thing about working at Granite Backcountry alliance is:
Being a driving force in the northeast outdoor winter community, creating volunteer opportunities to engage with the land, and developing skiable glades in a low-impact and sustainable way.
When we’re not working, we’re:
dreaming of the perfect glade.
What we’re reading:
The Emerald Mile by Kevin Fedarko, North by Scott Jurek, Crazy for the Storm by Norman Ollestad
What we’re listening to/Watching on Netflix:
Goose, The Grateful Dead, Fleet Foxes
If they made a movie about our workplace, it would be called:
“Ski Free or Die” - likely a James Bond thriller or one directed by Steven Soderbergh
Inclusion in the outdoors matters because:
It is a foundational element of building community. GBA is more than just developing ski glades in the forest; it’s about cultivating outdoor experiences in local communities, creating a culture of respectful skiers and riders to the environment and to each other, and being welcoming to all.
Five years down the line, it’s our hope that:
we can make an impact in broader communities to develop programs and funds to promote inclusion and accessibility to the backcountry. We want a more diverse group of skiers and riders experiencing both our glade zones and the satisfaction of being outdoors in the wintertime.