Lyra Pierotti is a freelance journalist and a professional mountain guide based in California’s Eastern Sierra Nevada. Her writing has appeared in the Mammoth Times, the Mammoth Sierra Magazine and the Fresno Bee. With no shortage of small-town drama and an abundance of towering granite peaks, the Eastern Sierra is an outstanding place to be based as a writer and a climber. Lyra's work as a mountain guide (AMGA Certified Rock Guide, AIARE Avalanche Instructor) takes her everywhere--from her own backyard, to the desert southwest and Washington's Cascades, to international destinations like Argentina, Mexico, and Italy. You can follow her online at adventuResearch.org, @pierotly, or @adventuResrch