ABOUT US
Our Mission
This space is created with you in mind. For and by Adaptive, LGBTQIA2S+, and BIPOC communities in the mountains.
Our Vision
We strive to grow culturally cohesive practices and spaces within the greater outdoor narrative.
AN INCLUSIVE OUTDOORS
Who we are
We are everyday people like you from diverse backgrounds, creating space in our world for folks on the margins.
What we value
We value our relationships, both human and with our natural world, in cultivating more caring growth for all communities.
Vasu Sojitra
Vasu Sojitra is a professional skier and a Disability Access Strategist living in Bozeman, MT. He has climbed peaks like the Grand Teton and was the first Disabled person to ski peaks in Montana’s Beartooth and Bridger Mountains with monumental ski descents on Tahoma (Mt Rainer) and Denali all on one leg and without a prosthetic leg. Through his goals and ambitions, he hopes to create more accessible spaces for people with disabilities and people of color in the outdoors and the ski world with the motto of “#ninjasticking through the wood to center intersectionality in the outdoors.”
(He/him)
Dani Aravich
Dani was born and raised in Boise, Idaho. She was born missing her left hand and forearm. She fell in love with the outdoors at a young age. Dani competed in Division 1 cross country and track and field in college, and went on to work in the NFL & NBA. She was introduced to the Paralympics in 2019, and has since become a fierce advocate for people with disabilities participating in sports and the outdoors. She is a summer and winter Paralympian. Dani was intrigued to IOP in 2022 when she participated in the Rut, and after became more involved in programming. She has a graduate certificate of disability policy from the university of Michigan & a works with IOP on adaptive programs.
(She/her)
Sophia Bielsky
Born by the beach in Hawaii, pretty far from anything you can call a mountain, it is ironic they feel most at home in the alpine. As a kid she would climb up trees to get a glimpse of the view over the quiet New York neighborhood they grew up in. She’s always been attracted to that; seeing things from a different perspective and finding new features. Sophia discovered their love for climbing while living in the Ozark Mountains for school and spent a subsequent summer in Alaska pursuing that interest.
Sophia developed their passion for social justice reform while studying to become a birth doula in 2016. Since then she has supported several people throughout their pregnancies, organized marches and strikes, attended policy reform conferences, and is currently working towards cultivating an inclusive, supportive, and intersectional climbing community in Bozeman, Montana.
Sophia is a Queer-specific Diversity, Equality, and Inclusive strategist that works to develop initiatives for various organizations.
(She/They)
