Pack grew up in Middlebury, Vermont as the daughter of poet Robert Pack. As a child she was a competitive gymnast, but stopped after getting a stress fracture in her spine.[3] She earned a degree in art and architecture from Yale University,[4] and studied painting in Vermont and Paris before setting up an art studio in Seattle.[3] She was formerly an ice climber, until a 2006 attack of compartment syndrome forced her to choose a climbing style that involved less gripping.[2][3] She works as a cartographer, and lives in Missoula, Montana.[1]