Ambassadors

Maya Shin | Environmental Advisory

I developed a deep concern for the environment and the impacts that humans were having on it in high school. This naturally became the focus of my university studies, gaining my Masters of Environment in 2021.

Simultaneous with completing my studies I started working Australian and then northern ski seasons and quickly realised that I couldn’t live without snowboarding. 10 years on I have developed a career centred around conservation through climate change mitigation and adaptation with a particular focus on the Australian Alps. I now work for Mount Hotham resort as an Environment and Sustainability Officer, combining my passions and education to ensure a future for Australian Ski resorts.

Those of us who love the mountains and enjoy spending time in nature – be that skiing, hiking or surfing, don’t always want to engage with politics. But, we are the best voices for these ecosystems and the lifestyles they support, and to me that is exactly what POW represents.

Flynn Medson | Alpine Enthusiast

The Australian winter and alpine environment is one of the most unknown and underappreciated sectors within the topography of Australia. We are a summer obsessed country and where I grew up in Queensland, I was just getting sweatier and sweatier. Since experiencing winter in Finland as a teenager I have been fascinated by the way winter works. I unknowingly had fallen in love and decided to dedicate my time to snowboarding year-round and experiencing all that winter had to offer.

I worked all night in the Slopes Grooming department and rode all day. I started touring the back country and exploring our Alpine environment and realised how valuable it is to every living thing. The links between summer seasons and winter snowfalls, temperature trends and influencing factors all pushed me to research and learn more about winter and how I can help prolong it.

I started taking photos and sharing the stoke for our amazing Alpine environment, spreading the message of vulnerability and fragility to raise awareness across society so we can make a positive change. You’ll find me out there on the windiest days and the coldest of nights with a passion to learn, create and promoting change for a greener, positive future.

Huw Kingston | Activist Adventurer

Huw, a multi award winning adventurer, writer, environmentalist and speaker, is proud to join POW as an Ambassador. From his rookie falls and unplanned sleepout in a Main Range blizzard in 1986, to his Alpine Odyssey in the winter of 2022, Huw has loved the Australian alpine for over 35 years.

He admits to crying more tears of happiness when skiing than on any other outdoor activity. But those tears run a little less joyfully now, having witnessed the changes wrought upon our mountains, and those elsewhere, by a warming climate. Despite pioneering long ski traverses in the Himalaya and elsewhere, skiing past ice-rimed snowgums or hunkering down in high country huts still enthrals him.

In a very different adventure, Huw stood as an Independent in the 2019 Federal Election, on a platform of action on the climate emergency.

Much of the winter of 2023 will see Huw trade sand for snow as he walks 3000km from Uluru to Canberra in support of the Voice referendum in his Take Heart trek. Huw is also an Ambassador for Save the Children and the global Adventure Travel Trade Association and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Josh Fletcher | POW AU Founding President

When a change in the USA Visa system put a dent in Josh’s plans to live the endless summer he was left with only one option. Head to the Mountains and try to get the surf fix there.

Little did he know that the first season would be the start of a lifestyle and career that would revolve around the Snowsports Industry.

Fast forward 15 years and multiple Southern and Northern Winters and Josh was part of the group that put together the foundations that POW Australia is built on today.

His love of the mountains and protecting them has never been stronger and he now supports POW in an advocacy role, sharing their work across the Winter, Outdoor and Action Sports industries in which he works.