Women Climbers
Thank you for being a guide and mentor to aspiring and passionate climbers. I am considering cutting back at my job and climbing a lot more. I have been climbing for almost 10 years and it is passion which I wish to pursue more and really push myself. I would love to be part of expeditions or all female ascents, but I am not sure what is the best way to break into this realm. Any advice or ideas would be much appreciated? And if you ever need a strong and motivated partners look me up… 🙂
Thank you for being such an amazingly strong, inspiring woman!
Sincerely,
Christina
Dear Christina,
Thanks for writing!
I totally agree, there is something awesome and satisfying about having real adventures with someone you can fully relate to and who is capable of sharing fleece layers with you if necessary. I think finding good partners takes time. Just because you climb and are a certain gender, does not necessarily mean you will click with another person who matches that profile, though you may both be perfectly lovely people. It is really special to mesh with a good partner, and those relationships are irreplaceable.
This may not be really helpful advice in terms of doing anything specific, but what I’ve done is to be patient and get in the habit of climbing with lots of people wherever you go. The more people you meet and climb with, the more good partners you are going to find–female or male. The thing about climbing is there’s no substitute for time spent–whether on the rock, in the mountains, or at the campsites. If you’re out there, things will happen, I think.
Another approach is to become a part of women’s climbing groups–even to volunteer as a guide for all female climbing events. This way you’ll meet even more people, and could find that you click with some of them.
It would be great to hear from people who have suggestions for some events, since I don’t have specifics…
🙂 Steph
Christina, there’s a great online community of women climbers on Twitter that I would recommend you join. We have great conversations sharing news about events, training tips, trip reports, gear reviews, what to wear, eat, etc. and through that network women often find good climbing partners. Also, you can connect with us at Chicks and we try to help women network with climbers in their local area so as to maximize your climbing time!