Lily grew up in Northeast Portland and enjoyed cross country skiing and playing sports as a kid. In her adult life, she has continued to engage in those activities as much as possible by coaching girls lacrosse.
She completed our Basic Climbing Education Program last year and has summited Mount Hood, Unicorn Peak and South Sister. She assisted with a BCEP team in 2023, intends to assist again in 2024 and also is serving on the BCEP committee, which is gearing up for its info night on Jan. 11.
Name: Lily Cox-Skall
Pronouns: she/ her
Year Joined Mazamas: 2022
Present-day outdoor activities: Mountaineering, backpacking, hiking, running, cross country skiing
What’s your earliest outdoor memory? Going cross country skiing with my parents as a kid – I used to hate it! Lol
How did you first hear about the Mazamas, and what prompted you to engage with theorganization? A few of my friends had taken BCEP and posted about it on social media, prompting my interest!
As more people seek to recreate outdoors, what advice would you offer them? Partaking in outdoor skill training can give you so much more confidence in the outdoors. Before I took BCEP, I felt like I had to rely on others to be knowledgeable about navigating outdoor scenarios. Since learning technical skills, I feel comfortable organizing and leading day trips and backpacking trips that I may not have in the past, and it’s given me the opportunity to get more of my friends and family outdoors with me!
What activities/situations/people most inspire you? Since joining the Mazamas and BCEP in particular, I have been so fortunate to meet so many amazing and inspiring people. In particular, one of my BCEP team leads, Ann Marie, inspired me so much throughout the course and beyond. On top of a million other commitments, Ann Marie volunteers to help students learn new outdoor skills, and she is so patient that it made it a lot easier to get through the intimidation of doing new and scary things. When it comes to badass mountaineering women who inspire me, I definitely hold her on the top of my list :).
What is your favorite book/movie/TV show/social media account that you follow and why? I recently finished the book Bravey by Alexi Pappas! It is a really inspiring memoir that inspires me when it comes to setting goals and accomplishing them.
What’s on your adventure bucket list? I want to go climb the Acatenango volcano in Guatemala!