About Michy

Michy grew up in Gilford, NH.  She attended The University of New Hampshire graduating with a degree in Outdoor Education as well as competing as Division 1 Alpine Skier.  After graduation she jumped in her car and drove west.  She spent three years as a ski bum in Colorado while working at the Keystone Science School.  After three years, she felt the call to return east in order to be closer to her family.  Michy decided Stowe was the perfect place to plant her feet not only for the outstanding skiing, but for the extraordinary opportunities to do everything she loved.    She has been here for 25 years, living with her 2 children Sofija  & Hugo and her husband Igor.  She Works at the Mt. Mansfield Ski Club where she is the Junior Alpine Program Director, working with hundreds of aspiring ski racers a year and she co-owns and operates a Summer Adventure Camp in Stowe, called Rugged Adventures.  During her free time, Michy is most often found backcountry touring and skiing, mountain biking or hiking.

While Michy seizes any opportunity to move her body in the outdoors, it hasn’t always been easy.  She has undergone 5 knee surgeries and is waiting on a shoulder surgery.  With each recovery, it deepened her curiosity to seek other forms of healing.  She began to study and practice multiple mindfulness techniques to help her through her periods of recovery and the inability to do the things she loved.  

After her many recoveries and being reunited with the things she loved to do, she discovered the power of “awe.” She found the feelings evoked by awe created peace within her thus supporting her healing process.  Without any formal training in photography, Michy simply captured what she saw on her Iphone.  The ritual of skinning up before sunrise and catching the first light became a daily practice for her.   

As life would have it, Michy had yet another hurdle to overcome.  In the spring of 2021, Michy was diagnosed with breast cancer.  Having never felt healthier, this came as a total surprise.  Throughout her treatments, she remained committed to accessing the outdoors for both work and play knowing how much peace it brought her. Mountain biking was one of the places she felt most alive and well.  Even if it was just a few miles a day, it made her feel better.    

These pictures in nature, these moments of sunrises and snowy trees and colorful bike trails are Michy’s Lens.  How she wants to see life and her ultimate goal is to share these moments with others in hopes that it brings a smile across someone’s face, it makes them feel peaceful, inspired and hopeful.  

In 2024 Michy was on a new mission- she climbed a million vertical feet on Mt. Mansfield in one calendar year.  Michy’s Mansfield Million is combined with Michy’s Mindfulness Mission.  Many of the prints on this website have been moments captured on her Million journey. 

She hopes you find peace, inspiration and joy when you look at her photos.  She hopes to spread the awareness of the power of Mindfulness & Movement in nature, to heal our mind, body & soul.  Follow Michy on Instagram @michysmindfulnessmission for daily moments of Awe in Nature.