Thinking Mountains, which took place from Dec. 11-14, was held by the Canadian Mountain Studies Initiative at the University of Alberta. Dr. Loeffler presented I Teach as the Mountains Teach Me, a presentation that evolved from a book chapter she published in 2011 of the same name.

"For the Thinking Mountains paper, I took the opportunity to do an interdisciplinary inquiry in mountain metaphors, the use of metaphor in outdoor pedagogy, and theories of how we create meaning in our lives through the use of metaphor. I was able to incorporate my mountain climbing experience through both images and narratives." Dr. Loeffler gave her paper in a session entitled Ecography, Landscape, and Lessons for the Future, a diverse session that ranged in discipline from outdoor education to anthropology.

Dr. Loeffler also attended other sessions at the conference. "It was a far reaching afternoon where a scholar from religious studies explored references/meanings of mountains in the bible to how to most ecologically dispose of human waste in the backcountry. The keynotes were all excellent and it was a privilege to attend and present at an interdisciplinary conference on a topic near and dear to my heart - teaching and mountains."