PEAK MENTALITY
About Ali Rae
Mountain wilderness guide. Wilderness safety educator. Founder of Peak Mentality.
My Story
I started climbing mountains to find myself. I ended up finding my purpose.
Ten years ago in Alberta, Canada, I headed into the mountains as a runner looking for something more. I took to the backcountry fast — within months I was doing multi-day traverses across Alberta’s most technical terrain. Then I came to Colorado and stood on top of Capitol Peak. That summit gave me grit, leadership, and a confidence nothing else in my life had produced.
That same year, I lost a friend to a scrambling accident in Canada. The hardest part wasn’t the grief — it was knowing I had the knowledge to teach her the skills that could have saved her, and I never did. That guilt became a purpose. Peak Mentality was born from that moment: a commitment to teaching every hiker the safety skills and decision-making that keep you alive on the mountain.
Credentials
The Peak Mentality Method
Through avalanche certification and years of backcountry training, I learned a system of mountain decision-making built around heuristics — the same judgment calls that keep backcountry skiers alive in avalanche terrain apply directly to scrambling. Terrain traps. Group dynamics. Summit fever. Peak Mentality teaches those frameworks to everyday hikers.
10+
Years Backcountry Experience
Across Alberta, Canada and the Colorado Rockies
14er Finisher
Colorado 14er Finisher
Including Capitol Peak — one of Colorado’s most technical summits
WFR + Avy
WFR Trained & Avalanche Certified
Plus multiple advanced backcountry safety courses
My Mission
Inspire regular people to experience a transformation on mountains — and get back home safely.
That’s it. That’s everything. If you come to the mountains and leave changed — and you come home — I’ve done my job.