In late 2023, Ellie Frost was finally ready to return to the slopes. But after three years of studying for an intense computer programming degree and recovering from prolonged COVID-19 symptoms, the Denver resident knew she wouldn’t be able to keep up with her ski buddies from Dillon and Vail, where Frost had lived before moving to the Front Range. So she posted to a women-only Facebook group for Colorado-based backcountry skiers, seeking a fresh crop of winter sports cohorts.

Three dozen people wrote back, and a subsequent in-person meetup led to a WhatsApp chat for “backcountry beauties,” Frost says. Less than a week later, when the chat had reached more than 300 members, two things became clear to Frost: She wasn’t the only Colorado gal yearning for a sense of community, and she possessed the skills to bring people together. “I realized this is the app that I would build,” she says.

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By March of this year, Backcountry Beauties was in early-stage beta testing. Now, the app is live and has more than 2,000 users ages 22 to 72, all of whom identify as women. To create her app, Frost cherry-picked the best elements of other social platforms: She fused Facebook’s ability to spark conversations with meetup.com’s event-planning expertise. Unlike Bumble BFF, which funnels users into potentially awkward one-on-one interactions, Backcountry Beauties emphasizes gathering in group settings. Profiles detail personal preferences, such as acceptable risk level and safety certifications, to help users find the right outdoorsy crew. Members can then join groups organized by activity (from downhill skiing to mushroom foraging), location (say, Front Range or San Miguel County), and ski pass affiliation (Ikon vs. Epic).

Online chats within the groups can lead to in-person adventuring or other gatherings—such as gear swaps, trivia nights at craft breweries, and get-to-know-yous at spots like Punch Bowl Social on Broadway—that allow women to meet potential pals on flat ground before heading into the backcountry together. “So many of the events, women come completely alone,” Frost says, adding that it doesn’t take long before they “start laughing and connecting with new community sisters.”

Backcountry Beauties’ events calendar, chat groups, and community forums are all free, but subscription tiers (starting at $40 annually) bundle in other outdoor apps like onX and AllTrails and include access to video tutorials about ski-touring basics, avalanche reports, and more.

In the coming years, Frost will chart new terrain by expanding events beyond Colorado’s borders—including, perhaps, a peak-to-fjord ski trip in Norway. And as the app—and its community—expands, Frost ultimately sees Backcountry Beauties “as a way to help people who are segmented and isolated connect with other people,” she says. “You should only have to ride a chairlift solo if you actually want to be alone, not because you have no one to go with you.”