A backcountry guide with more than four decades of experience says while in the alpine, she was more afraid of being outed as a transgender woman, than she was of avalanches.

Julianna Howatt worked as a professional mountain guide in B.C. and Alberta's most dangerous terrain for most of her life.

During that time, she says, she outwardly embodied the stereotypes of a mountain guide in the muscled, masculine body that she was born with.

All backcountry users require a permit in B.C.'s Glacier National Park this winter

Julianna Howatt found climbing, a fringe sport, as an outlet. (Julianna Howatt/Submitted)

Inside, Howatt knew that she identified as a woman.

First Person For a lot of people, being trans is a journey. For me, it's reached a specific end

“I compartmentalized it. I w

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