The Colorado High Country can be a lonely place. Although there are numerous opportunities for outdoor exploration year-round, there are many people who venture out alone for a variety of reasons ranging from varying fitness levels to prior commitments.

Denver-based creator Ellie Frost learned all too well about solo outdoor adventures while living in Dillon and Vail.

“When I lived up in the mountains, it could sometimes be a little difficult for people to follow through on their plans,” Frost said.

After returning to the Denver area to continue her studies, Frost encountered another problem that many women face when considering moving to the High Country area.

“I moved back to the city during COVID to go back to school and got really out of shape,” Frost said. “I realized I was no longer in shape to go out with the people I know in the mountains. I didn’t want to hold them back.”

Feeling cut off from her other outdoor-loving friends, Frost posted in a Facebook group on December 10, 2023, looking for other women to go ski touring with. Within hours, Frost says, she received responses from a large group of other women who were also interested in exploring the outdoors on a regular basis.

“All these women were writing to me and I started getting to know people,” Frost said. “I felt like I needed to connect them in some kind of group chat. Someone suggested WhatsApp.and four days later, 300 of us were on a WhatsApp. I had no idea that was going to happen. That wasn’t my intention. I was genuinely looking for other women to spend time with out there.”

Faced with hundreds of people in a WhatsApp group chat, Frost soon realized the app’s limitations and decided to be at the forefront of developing a possible solution.

“You couldn’t see the chat history from before and we were repeating a lot of different things,” Frost said. “I decided to create an app to help everyone stay connected.”

Frost, who has a background in software development, merged the key focuses of Facebook and Meetup to create Backcountry Beauties. The free app ultimately connects other women who want to go out at night, engage in skin-to-skin contact, go on tours during the day and have fun in a community of like-minded people.

“I started developing the app myself on December 15,” Frost said. “I put it together myself and it took me about four months to create the basis of the system.”

Once in the app, Backcountry Beauties allows women to create profiles highlighting their location, favorite outdoor hobbies, skill level and certifications, making it easy to connect with other women.

Users can join groups based on their interests and locations where they can discuss meetups, sign up for events, or create their own groups and chat about their experiences.

Since the app’s official launch in early June, Backcountry Beauties has grown into a community of over 2,000 women, all interested in creating and attending events in Colorado’s natural paradise.

“I feel like I’m finally living what my purpose is, which is to enrich the quality of life for as many people as possible and inspire others to do the same,” Frost said. “…Many of us have been hurt by women before, so there’s been this incredible healing in the community. So many women have said how hard it was to make friends with women.”

With so much to explore in Summit County, it’s no surprise that many of the events and meetups organized by Backcountry Beauties users have taken place within or near the county boundaries.

“Outside of the Front Range, Summit County is probably our largest user base,” Frost said. “It’s been really nice to see all these isolated people come together. … I feel like in the mountains, cliques form that can be very exclusive. I think a lot of that has to do with never really feeling accepted in a group.”

The Backcountry Beauties app not only creates a network of women to share their love of sports and the outdoors, but also allows women to further their education on a wide range of topics and activities through the app’s learning library.

“We do these virtual learning sessions,” Frost said. “This winter we did one with the Colorado Avalanche Information Center where they taught everyone how to read avalanche forecast reports and do condition reports. … I’m working on partnering with different companies and brands to provide education.”

In the future, Frost hopes to introduce a subscription model for the app to provide users with benefits such as access to popular backcountry outdoor tools/apps and discounts from sponsors. Since the app is already fairly widely used regionally, Frost hopes interest in the app will extend beyond Colorado.

“I hope to expand the infrastructure beyond our region in Colorado, out west, across the United States and, if it makes sense, around the world,” Frost said. “We’ve started our own little branches and talked about becoming like the Girl Scouts for adults.”

Additionally, Frost is working on a hybrid version of the app – Backcountry Bonds – which will hopefully foster a similar community of outdoor enthusiasts. There is currently no set launch date for the new app.

Backcountry Beauties is available on iOS and Android app stores.