I pulled into my kids鈥� preschool at 3:29 P.M., jumped out of the minivan, and ran inside. I鈥檇 squeezed in a two-hour rope-soloing session at the local crag after finishing work early that afternoon, and I was just in time for afternoon pickup.

鈥淢om! Quinn and Adaline invited us to go to the fairy houses!鈥� my five-year-old daughter, Eloise, said. 鈥淐an we go?鈥�

I looked at the girls鈥� mothers, who nodded. We were, indeed, invited to the , a fanciful temporary art installation along one of Bozeman, Montana鈥檚 in-town trails.

鈥淪ure,鈥� I said as we walked out of school. 鈥淏ut I have to figure out how to carry Gus.鈥� Eloise鈥檚 little brother聽weighed around 25 pounds at the time and wasn鈥檛 walking yet, and while careful climbing didn鈥檛 bother my chronic neck pain, I could hardly get him from the school to the van in my arms, much less the half-mile to the fairy houses. I didn鈥檛 have the baby backpack or stroller in the car, but I did have my climbing gear.

Maybe my climbing pack would work,聽I thought.

I unclipped my pack lid, opened the drawstring, and dumped the whole thing upside down, pouring my harness, gear, and rope into a heap in the back of the van. Then聽I put Gus in the pack feetfirst, cinched the drawstring under his arms, and snugged the side straps. He looked happy and comfortable, and he wouldn鈥檛 fall out. Not bad, I thought,聽especially since he usually screams in protest when I clip him into .

That old became my toddler carrier for the next few months, but practicality wasn鈥檛 the only reason. I鈥檝e had that pack since a 2007 expedition to climb mossy granite domes in the boglands of Wood-Tikchik State Park, Alaska. It was also a choice to remind myself who I am: a writer, business owner, fairy-house mom, and聽climber.

It wasn鈥檛 the first time I鈥檇 repurposed my outdoor gear for parenting, and it won鈥檛 be the last. Here are some of my other favorites.

1. A Rope Bag as a School Tote

I thought I鈥檇 carry, well, a climbing rope in when I got it last spring. But then I stopped climbing during the shutdown, and this super durable tote instead became the聽kids鈥� school bag. In winter聽it fits warm clothes and lunch boxes, and in spring聽its thick nylon and waterproof bottom panel make it perfect for the wet, muddy gear we drag back and forth daily.

2. A Puffy Jacket as a Carrier

Gus had intense colic for the first three and a half months of his life. Desperate to get outdoors after the constant 12-plus hours a day of screaming, I eventually strapped him to my chest over a pair of fishing waders, zipped him inside a one-size-too-big聽, layered an聽 on top of it, and spent a snowy October day on a guided fly-fishing trip with . I kept the zippers cracked for airflow, and, magically, Gus slept most of the float. The jackets were tight enough to spread his weight more evenly across my back than the baby carrier alone would have, easing the strain. And those moments of peace鈥攑lus the four trout I caught on a fly鈥攈elped keep me sane.

In a pinch, a jacket with a backpack can also work聽as a carrier: pull the child to your chest, wrap their legs around your waist, zip it up with them in it, and buckle your backpack鈥檚 waist belt and sternum strap around their body so they don鈥檛 fall out.

3. A Ski Pack as a Diaper and 国产吃瓜黑料-Mom Bag

While it鈥檚 not as stylish as some fancy diaper bags, your ski pack has seriously specialized compartments that make it at least as functional as one designed for聽hauling children鈥檚聽gear, if not more. The diaper kit slots into the hydration pouch, extra clothes go in the main compartment, and snacks can be dropped聽in the shovel/probe pouch.

I use my in-bounds pack, , to ski with my daughter, bringing along extra mittens and jackets, hand warmers, treats, and water or a thermos of hot chocolate. Meanwhile, my old ski-patrol pack, a much larger (35-liter)聽, has become her ski duffel. It fits all her gear, and before she was strong enough to carry her own skis, I strapped them onto the A-frame carry to schlep to the warming hut where we used to boot up pre-pandemic.

4. Climbing Gear as a Baby Bouncer

Don鈥檛 chuck that ratty daisy chain you used on your first big wall. During the short-lived but thrilling period (for the baby and the parents)聽when a child can鈥檛 yet walk but can jump aggressively in a bouncer hung from the ceiling, your old rigging systems and skills will come in聽handy. The three hand-me-down bouncers we used were all hard to adjust聽height-wise. With , though, adjusting to baby鈥檚 fast-growing legs was as easy as clipping the next loop higher. To rig it, tie a figure eight on a bight in the bouncer鈥檚 factory webbing, then clip the bight to a daisy chain with a carabiner. The whole setup hangs from an eyebolt in a ceiling beam. Bomber.

5. A Hunting Frame Pack as a Carrier

Out at the fairy houses that afternoon, I ran into a former聽climbing partner who is now a mother of four. When I showed her my baby-in-the-climbing-pack system, she nodded. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a good one,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hen he grows out of it, try .鈥�

So聽I dug out the one my husband found in his parents鈥� garage some 20 years ago and strapped Gus in. At first聽he would squirm out of it, but now he stands on the platform and plays. If he wants to look backwards, he turns around 180 degrees and leans against my back. With three straps holding him in, 滨鈥檓 not worried he鈥檒l fall out, and it carries well鈥攊t is, after all, designed for hauling meat.

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You wake with a start, spit spraying across your face. It鈥檚 your four-year-old coughing. You fell asleep in her bed. Your head is pounding. You check the time 鈥攊t鈥檚 only 7 P.M.

You still need to put your skins on your skis. While you鈥檙e at it, you鈥檇 better pack your whole ski kit. You鈥檒l be up feeding the baby by 5 A.M., and your plan is to be out the door by 7:30, but the house is mayhem in the morning, and you鈥檒l be exhausted from feeding the baby at midnight and 3 A.M., too. You haven鈥檛 had a full night鈥檚 sleep since your second trimester. How long ago was that? Ten months? Can鈥檛 be. How old is the baby? Five months?

You stumble down to the kitchen. Skis, boots, poles. Beacon, shovel, probe. Skins. Med kit. Water. Lunch.

Lunch! This is a stage of life when lunch is a peanut butter and cheddar sandwich packed in a reused bag that says 鈥淗appy Baby Dried Oat Cereal.鈥� When you pack the bag, oat shavings will fly around the kitchen, and that鈥檚 OK. It鈥檚 fine. And, yes, you should definitely take the kids鈥� leftover apple slices and the last of the Goldfish crackers.

You might want to text your ski partners to bring extra puffy coats so they don鈥檛 get cold while waiting around in the snow for you to pump (because you can鈥檛 go more than three hours without doing something about the milk buildup or you could get聽get mastitis, which is a breast infection, and you don鈥檛 want one of those). They may or may not listen to you, but that doesn鈥檛 matter. You鈥檒l probably bring along a few extra coats for them, just in case. Remember? You鈥檙e a mom.

OMG. You鈥檙e going to have the minivan all to yourself tomorrow. Because: COVID. That means no whining, no screaming, and no one but you to drop crumbs. Did you think it could be this good?

Focus. This is your only chance to go skiing for the next week (or maybe for the rest of your life), so please triple-check that you packed your ski boots. But first聽go ahead and lick the peanut butter off the knife, salivating as you imagine eating the sandwich tomorrow, flakes of snow falling like magic from the sky.

You should probably get all the dishes done while the kids are sleeping, and plan dinner for tomorrow night. While you鈥檙e at it, why not plan dinner for the entire week? No, don鈥檛 do that. Go pack, and then read the聽avalanche advisory before bed.

Triggering avalanches on weak snow near the ground is possible鈥� however, these concerns are more localized to heavily wind-loaded slopes near ridgelines.鈥� With these hard slabs, avoiding suspect slopes is your best strategy.

That seems pretty straightforward to manage. Moderate danger on wind-loaded slopes, low danger elsewhere. One to three inches in the forecast. Now聽stop looking at avalanche videos, and go to sleep before the kids wake up again.

滨鈥檓 a mother of very young children, too, so let me level with you: yes, you can still go skiing. It needn鈥檛 be in the backcountry, and the bunny slope and cross-country trails totally count toward your season total. And while COVID聽likely won鈥檛 make the Herculean effort of getting out the door much easier, there might be a few hidden new-mom benefits. Exhibit A: riding the lift solo means you don鈥檛 have to hand-pump on the chair next to a stranger.

And as we all know, getting outside is vital to your mental health, especially as a sleep-deprived new parent. So, whatever you do, go skiing.

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I met Hilaree Nelson in 2012 when I was considering getting pregnant. Three months prior, the聽ski mountaineer had become the first woman to climb two 8,000-meter peaks,聽Everest and Lhotse, in 24 hours, but instead of asking about that, I grilled her about becoming a mother and continuing mountain adventures. Would it be the end of my skiing and climbing?

鈥淪ome people lose their drive after kids,鈥� says Nelson, whose sons are now eight and ten. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛.鈥�

That response is one of the reasons I have a three-year-old daughter today, and 滨鈥檓 happy to report that I also stayed motivated. But I鈥檝e often since wondered if the ability to compartmentalize those two things鈥攜our parenting mind and your climber mind鈥攊s built-in聽or if it鈥檚 something we can learn and hone. Last fall, while reading about Nelson鈥檚 historic聽first ski descent of Lhotse in September 2018聽with partner Jim Morrison, I kept wondering what, exactly, happens in her head聽during that moment when she flips on the focus switch.

鈥淚t really has to do with learning how to direct your attention to what鈥檚 important and relevant to the task at hand,鈥� says聽Mark Aoyagi, director of the University of Denver鈥檚 sport and performance psychology program and a sports psychologist with the Denver Broncos. 鈥淎 lot of times we talk about blocking out distractions, but you聽can鈥檛 actually block anything out, so the skill is to learn how to focus your attention to where it needs to be, and then everything else fades away.鈥�

Yet it鈥檚 not always as simple as focusing on your mom thoughts聽or聽your athlete ones. Nelson describes a high-stakes situation in which thinking of her kids actually helped her survive. After climbing for nearly 50 hours during the Everest-Lhotse linkup, mostly above 8,000 meters, she began hallucinating while down-climbing loose, icy rock on Lhotse. In retrospect, she says, her brain was about to go off the rails, but because of the altitude, she didn鈥檛 realize it. 鈥淢y kids just appeared in my mind so clearly. They were like, 鈥榃ake up. You have to get down.鈥欌�� She channeled that energy in a mantra鈥斺�渇ocus, focus, focus鈥濃�攖hat helped her safely descend another 5,000 feet to camp.

But in 2017, when she and Morrison skied off 21,165-foot Papsura in India鈥檚 Himachal Pradesh state, thinking about her kids affected her differently. After waiting three hours on the summit for fog to clear, they began their descent in a whiteout, navigating blue ice barely covered in snow in the 55-degree couloir. When the clouds lifted 1,000 feet down, the exposure on the route became clear.

鈥淚f you lost an edge, there was no chance of self-arresting, and you鈥檇 just be gone,鈥� Nelson says, describing the view 2,000 feet straight down to the crevasse. 鈥淎s soon as I thought about that fall, the death, my kids popped into my mind.鈥�

A ball of panic rose toward her chest. Her heartbeat went up, and her breathing shallowed. If she didn鈥檛 calm herself, she was hosed. She set the pick of her ice ax into the slope, turned her body so she could look uphill, and breathed until her heart rate came down. Then she pushed the聽thoughts of her聽boys out of her head.

The difference between her responses on Papsura versus Lhotse was about perspective, says Chris Heilman, a sports psychologist based in Driggs, Idaho, who works specifically with mountain athletes. 鈥淲e all look through rose-colored glasses,鈥� she says. 鈥淚n her mind, she chooses whether thinking of her kids is helpful or hurtful. In the second scenario, it was hurtful,聽a scary situation. [On Lhotse]聽she viewed seeing her kids as helpful.鈥�

Nelson navigated the sudden flood of聽adrenaline and cortisol聽by broadening her focus while on Papsura, Heilman says. This included looking uphill and conscientious breathing. 鈥淪he stepped back into an open, broad focus to calm herself down and lower her arousal to a聽level that was appropriate for her to move forward,鈥� he says.

Ultimately, this ability to focus is a vital skill for any mountain athlete鈥攊t鈥檚 just more evident in Nelson鈥檚 case, with the juxtaposition of mothering and serious alpinism. 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 have the skill set to control your fear and your panic, then it鈥檚 going to inevitably work against you in a seriously dangerous way,鈥� Nelson says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 allowed me to push myself deeper into adventures and deeper into harder objectives.鈥�

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Workwear as a style statement is having a moment. Google 鈥淚s Workwear Trending?鈥� and the first few results show Calvin Klein models sporting road-worker orange and construction boots. From the to the to the , women鈥檚 clothing is getting more聽functional.聽The uniform-and-workwear industry is currently worth $30 billion and is projected to reach $48 billion by 2022. That kind of stable growth is an anomaly in the apparel sphere, where e-commerce has upended traditional retail sales and styles change with each season. A rise in the number of women in industrial occupations is a key part of the growth, according to , but blue-collar laborers aren鈥檛 the only ones driving it.

鈥淭o me, this is all about the #metoo momentum and the awareness that women are as strong and capable as men聽and deserve respect and all else that goes with that equality,鈥� says Jeannie Wall, an outdoor-clothing consultant for Rab with 30 years of experience in the outdoor industry. 鈥淭he new workwear speaks to the strength and power of women, with an aesthetic and fit that makes women feel strong and beautiful. It鈥檚 the new 鈥榩ower suit鈥� that finally doesn鈥檛 make us look like men.鈥�

Dickies introduced its first women鈥檚 jeans meant for work in the late 1940s, according to Dickies鈥櫬爏enior design director, Erica Tew. During WWII, Carhartt outfitted Rosie the Riveter聽in coveralls, but the workwear giant didn鈥檛 have a until 2006. , a small brand out of White Sulphur Springs, Montana, also opened in 2006, manufacturing burly duck canvas pants, double reinforced in the knee and butt, in two cuts designed for women. . mailed its first women鈥檚 catalog聽the year prior.

The need was clear, says Red Ants Pants founder Sarah Calhoun, a former trail-crew worker and Outward Bound instructor. To get women into her made-in-the-USA britches, Calhoun traveled the country with an Airstream trailer, organizing Tupperware-style parties with pants and beer. Even with prices more than double that of Carhartt鈥檚, women gobbled up Red Ants. Today she sells thousands of Red Ants Pants products annually, but she gauges her success by a different metric:聽 drew 18,000 people in 2018, its eighth season, and raised enough money to grant $100,000 to programs supporting women and girls in rural Montana.

Carhartt聽took a few years to nail its women鈥檚 line, but the branch is now the company鈥檚 fastest-growing business unit聽with its revenue increasing聽by a double-digit percentage from 2017 to 2018, according to Deb Ferraro, Carhartt鈥檚 vice president of product development. 鈥淲here we have the most success is where we take similar [men鈥檚] product, and we don鈥檛 shrink and pink it, but we fit it appropriately for women鈥檚 shape.鈥�

More recently, others have followed suit, reporting similar demand. 鈥淥ur growth has been kind of like there鈥檚 a balloon going up in the sky and you grab a rope and hold on,鈥� says Sara DeLuca, co-founder of , a women鈥檚-only clothing company based in Portland, Oregon, that launched in May 2017.聽, which has manufactured heavy-duty tree-climbing pants since 1997 and women-specific pants since 2010, added three new women鈥檚 pants in the last three years.

But for all the success, there are also challenges. Dovetail, which offers sizes 000 through 18, is extending its line to size 24 this year. That inclusivity has garnered the tough, stretchy, attractive pants a fervid following, but it makes inventory management more complex,聽limiting new product development. Red Ants Pants鈥櫬燿ecision to manufacture domestically has driven up costs, as have Dovetail鈥檚 and Patagonia鈥檚 partnerships with socially and environmentally responsible mills, and the latter鈥檚 application of environmentally benign textiles.

And one of the biggest hurdles for business growth is innate, says Calhoun: 鈥淥ur pants don鈥檛 wear out.鈥�

Still, innovation is happening in both fit and materials. After visiting a horse farm where women wore yoga pants on the job, Carhartt鈥檚 product team hybridized leggings and work pants into the Force Utility Legging. In one of the two colors offered, most sizes are sold out. Patagonia鈥檚 workwear, which dropped in 2017, is perhaps the largest departure from the mainstream. In a mix of traditional and cutting edge, Chouinard鈥檚 brand makes its apparel from聽organic hemp and cotton, recycled polyester, and Dyneema (a strong, lightweight fiber聽more common in sails). Patagonia鈥檚 testing showed that,聽while much softer than the ubiquitous duck canvas, its hemp blend was 25 percent more abrasion-resistant. Duluth, which saw a 150 percent increase in women looking for plus sizes on its website last year, is offering 55 percent of its core women鈥檚 line in extended sizing this fall聽and plans to offer more than 60 styles in plus by summer 2019. 聽聽

鈥淵ou need to look like yourself, feel confident, and look聽like you take your work seriously,鈥� says Taylor Johnston, founder of , a small women鈥檚 company inspired by historic, tailored work clothing, influenced by a New York City fashion sense, and focused on sustainable production.

Also a horticulturist who designed the gardens in front of the Guggenheim, Johnston sees room for growth in both her own business and the industry as a whole. 鈥淚f you needed a pair of pants, heels, and a shirt for a desk job, you鈥檇 have countless options,鈥� she says. 鈥淭here should be just as many options for those who do dirty work.鈥�

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