Ladies we Love: Firefighter & Pro Skier Kalen Thorien
Pro skier Kalen Thorien turns heads on the slopes—and on the cover of Powder—but maybe even more so with her summer job as a wildland firefighter. One of very few female firefighters on the fiery front lines, Thorien faces off with fast-moving fire walls as well as the challenges of leading almost entirely male crews—and that’s just her between-snow-seasons gig.
Protecting the forests and mountains she skis in the winter helps her feel balanced in connection to nature, as both giver and receiver. Having fallen in love with skiing just seven years ago, 25-year-old Thorien’s hard work and passion for powder has landed her on billboards and in catalogs for the likes of REI and Patagonia, as well as upcoming film gigs with Sweetgrass Productions and Soul Ryder Productions.
We caught up with Thorien to find out what it’s like for a John Muir-quoting young skier to fight wildfires—and couldn’t resist chatting a little about snow, too.
Obviously skiing is your first love, but it seems like the entire West is on fire right now and your job puts you in the thick of it. How did you get into fire fighting?
Initially, I was just trying to solve the age-old problem of “How do I ski more?” I needed to find a job that would allow me to make enough money to not have to work during the winter. But, of course, there were stipulations. It had to be in the outdoors, pay well, and be seasonal. So I narrowed it down to commercial fishing and wildland firefighting. Seeing as I don’t like fish and deep, dark bodies of cold water, wildland firefighting was the answer. I began applying and was picked up by a fire crew in California. I made the move out to Modoc County last summer where I spent my first season as a rookie on an engine crew, and haven’t looked back since!
What is the toughest thing, physically, about fighting wildfires?
Oh wow, where do you start? Everything about it is tough physically, some things are just rated higher on the torture scale than others. For me, it’s the beating my feet take and long hours in the hot sun. I’m sure it varies from person to person. The guys who have to run a chainsaw all day probably put back and shoulder pain pretty high on the scale. But the fact that you’re pushing your body every day for 16 hours straight, no days off, no showers, or even a bed to sleep in from fourteen to twenty-one days straight takes a toll on everyone somewhere at sometime. You just have to work through it and know eventually it will end.
Have there been moments when you literally feared for your life?
It’s amazing how safe you typically feel in this job. But there was one moment last year where my nerves were jumping a bit. We were chasing down a grass fire and were getting deeper and deeper into the hills, moving excruciatingly slow due to a plethora of rocks. All of a sudden the winds switched on us and the flame front was speeding toward our crew at an alarming rate. Knowing we couldn’t outrun it, my captain told us to burn out a ring around us and the engine, so we lit the grass around us on fire in a ring shape until it was completely burned. This created a barrier between us and the flames because the fire had nothing left to burn. We just got the ring around us out when the flame front hit, it diverted around, and then kept going, leaving us stunned and standing in a little island of green. After the shock wore off, it was quickly followed by a lot of laughing and numerous swear words.
Are there many female firefighters out there, or do you feel in the minority? If so, how does that feel?
There are very few female firefighters, especially on the front lines. I’ll typically be the only female firefighter out of a group of 50. I’ve always been around a lot of guys, so I never felt like the minority. These are my brothers, my friends. I didn’t really miss or notice not having another woman around. But my gender did play a tough role when I was given a leadership position. All of a sudden being in charge of a group of men exposed some insecurities and really revealed to me that I was a woman amongst a sea of guys. Tough guys. The margin for error feels much thinner when you’re a woman in this profession. If you mess up, not only does your respect as a firefighter become challenged, but also the respect for your sex. My skin needed to rapidly become thicker, and I had to gain a deeper confidence in myself and my abilities.
How would you describe your connection to the woods when you’re fighting a fire, versus when you you’re slaying pow?
Both deliver a very real and deep connection, but they’re definitely different. There’s a greater sense of urgency and responsibility toward mother nature when fighting fire. Hiking in to protect a forest is a race. You’re needed, you have a job to do, and you only have so much time to do it. You’re giving back to the forest. Helping it. Aiding it. Acting as a guardian in a sense. When I’m skiing, it’s very much the opposite. I’m receiving this exceptional gift from mother nature. From the fresh air and lush forests, to pristine snowfields and impressive peaks. You could say we’re in a healthy give-and-take relationship.
OK, now let’s talk about snow! You say you didn’t take to skiing as a youngster, but ended up falling for it hard as a teenager. What do you think changed?
It’s tough to say honestly. I’m really not too sure why, internally, I flipped a switch which not just stopped me in my path, but completely derailed my life, in a good way. Skiing was the last goal I pictured myself pursuing. A few years before I fell in love with it, I had written down a list of Ivy League schools I was hoping to attend all while pursuing my professional ballet career. And then, before I know it, I’m listening to Led Zeppelin on a chairlift with snow blowing sideways, grinning from ear to ear, knowing that I should be in English class instead. I think the sense of liberation, growth in confidence, and overall freedom of skiing made me fall in love. It was simple, and it felt right.
Tell me about the moment when you knew that skiing was it for you.
I remember this moment as if it were yesterday. It cracks me up that I actually have A MOMENT! A second in time when my entire future was clear and palpable: I was at Tamarack Resort in Idaho, ditching another day of school—sorry, Mom. They’d gotten about ten inches of fresh snow, and I probably counted two dozen people on the whole mountain. I decided to wander out to a new area, which quickly turned to me shoving massive tree branches aside in hopes the forest would thin out a bit. Then, the forest cleared in to this beautiful meadow of untouched, pristine powder glistening in the morning sun. The clouds had parted slightly in the valley below, revealing Cascade Lake’s flawless blue water. I had to sit down and take it all in. Life became clear and questions were silenced. This would be the course of my life.
What did it feel like to see yourself on the cover of Powder for the first time?
I thought, “Well s***, now what do I do?” Ha. It was pretty surreal. I was coming out of a season where my productivity didn’t feel nearly as extensive as the year before, so I was a bit doubtful if I was even going to have much published, let alone for a major magazine like Powder. When I saw that cover, it was a great sense of relief. That my hard work, hours of emailing and getting rejected, doubts in my abilities, coming off a tough season, all these things were put to rest and I had finally accomplished a major goal.
Who are your inspirations?
The list is long, but a few big inspirations in my life have been my dad, my boyfriend Ian, and writer and naturalist John Muir. My dad is unwavering, patient and genuine in everything he does. He allows life to present itself and with steadfast confidence and love, he accomplishes anything he put his mind to. Ian, whether he knows it or not, has taught and is still teaching me the power of adventure, the ability to manifest whatever you desire. That talk is cheap. Saying you’ll do something doesn’t mean you will, you have to reach for it and make it come to fruition. Anything is possible. Lastly, John Muir. He has revealed nature to me. His writings have exposed not just the want, but the need humanity has to be in the outdoors.
Do you feel like you’re gravitating from resort skiing more toward backcountry and mountaineering? Why?
Absolutely. Don’t get me wrong, I love a fun day at the resort with friends, but there’s something much more rewarding about backcountry skiing. No matter what, even if the snow was totally bunk, you lost a ski, you’re freezing cold, hungry, tired, miserable, you name it, at the end of the day you couldn’t be happier and feeling more blessed. Being in the wilderness feeds the soul.
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