Welcome to Beyond the mountains podcast. I’m your host Ashley Pettit, and live work and play in the mountains. I live in the remote mountains deep in the French Alpes. I am a passionate cyclist, skier, hiker, photographer and storyteller. I’ve discovered my passion for this mountain life after 20 years of city life, working in marketing and advertising. The mountains and peaks I climbed back then were all about the corporate peaks and the imaginary mountains concerning climbing the corporate ladder. Since moving to the mountains of the French Alpes. I’ve met some incredible and inspiring people from all walks of life. They all share the same thing. They all love their lives in the mountains. They live here, work here and play here in the mountains. Most of the people I hope you’ll meet on this show are my friends. They are locals of the Maurienne Valley. My Valley is a special and secret part of the mountains in the French Alpes. This opening series I am calling the Locals Project. And I hope my friends can become your friends. And share with you some local knowledge. I am proud to live in the Maurienne Valley a secret part of the French Alpes and all my friends are proud to live here too. More people need to discover this place. I hope as this show grows I can expand the community and talk to people from other parts of France, Europe and the world. To talk about their life in the mountains and what unites us all about living, working and playing in the mountains. My friends here are : pro athletes, ski instructors, paragliding pilots, mountaineers, ice-climbers, high mountain guides, restaurant owners, mountain refuge guardians, national park rangers, artists, musicians, hiking guides, business owners, cycling guides. Photographers and filmmakers, helicopter pilots even cheese makers They all have incredible stories to share about being outside and enjoying life in the mountains. In each episode, I’m going to find out how they got started in their mountain lives, how they turned their passions into their jobs or simply remains a passion. We’ll talk about daily life, what a typical day in the life looks like and why mountain people are so tough, I’ll even try to tackle some of the not so good things about mountain life. Like death from avalanches or shoveling snow from around your car in minus 20 degrees or driving 45 min to the supermarket only to forget something. Hopefully this show will inspire you to get into the mountains and even come and visit me in the French Alpes. I hope you will join me on this adventure to go beyond the mountains and meet the people who live, work and play in them.