Let's Go Climbing

Genevive grew up 30 minutes from the Gunks but spent most of her life unaware of the climbing destination in her backyard. In college, a friend took her night climbing there, and her world was forever changed. She progressed quickly, cutting her teeth on the area’s heady trad leads. After moving to Rumney, New Hampshire, Genevive started pushing her limits with sport climbing and climbing began to take over life. After driving out to Joshua Tree, Genevive soon found life on the road irresistible. From that moment, Genevive realized she had an opportunity to experience life differently from conventional norms.

Besides traveling through the states, Genevive has spent a great deal of time in Southeast Asia, Mexico, and Cuba experiencing different cultures and styles of climbing. After so much time climbing drippy limestone tufas, she discovered her passion for steep, thuggy sport routes. She made a brief attempt to settle down in Denver, CO, where she met her fiance. Instead, he joined her on the road in a Promaster cargo van. 

Climbing helps Genevive cope with her own insecurities and anxieties by being in the moment, though once she’s off the wall everything tends to flood back. Climbing has helped her see and feel those moments of calm and quietness which helps her realize that she’s capable of being in control. Climbing also helps her control many unhealthy habits, both physical and mental. Instead of focusing on the number on a scale she pays more attention to how her body feels. She loves being able to push her body and mind through a projecting phase, because she goes from thinking there’s no way she’ll be able to do a route to actually doing it, which she finds fascinating. 

In the fall of 2018, Genevive was proud to take part in the first all female cohort for the AMGA Single Pitch Instructor Course, and she now guides retreats and teaches clinics around the country. Her mission is to increase equity and access for underrepresented groups within outdoor spaces. She has mostly been working in women-centered environments but would like to focus more on BIPOC spaces moving forward. Genevive knows how important mentorship is when learning new things, and she has seen a huge lack of BIPOC mentors. She wants to encourage more BIPOC climbers to learn the skills needed to safely enjoy the outdoors so they can become mentors in their own communities. 

Certifications: 

• AMGA Single Pitch Instructor
• Wilderness First Responder

Availability:

• Available in multiple locations with advanced notice 

Media Features:

• The Power Company Podcast: Black Voices Matter
• The Enormocast: Holding Fast to the Dream
• Mountain Hardwear: Guide to Going Full Time on the Road
• The Shape of a Climber: body image in rock climbing

Accomplishments:

• Ultrasaurus - 13a, Sport, 1 pitch: Clear Creek, CO
• STFU - 13a, Sport, 1 pitch: Tensleep, WY
• Thugagra- 13a, Sport, 1 pitch: Tensleep, WY
• Disrespect - 13a, Sport, 1 pitch: St.George, UT
• Bigger Dog - 13b, Sport, 1 pitch: Clear Creek, CO
• 1st place (record holder) - most number of pitches in 24 hours (212 pitches) and highest point value in female category at “24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell”: Jasper, AK, 2021

Contact Genevive to arrange a day of private guiding for up to 6 people.

Originally from Brazil, Maiza started her climbing journey when she moved to Washington and started exploring alpine climbing in the Cascades. After a couple years of walking uphill, she realized how much fun she had sport climbing. Now she loves climbing steep routes and has even developed a few of her own at her home crag in Great Falls, Montana. She’s excited to develop more routes, empower other women to learn about bolting, and help with rebolting efforts at her local climbing areas.

Maiza recently discovered how much she enjoys guiding. She loves bringing the stoke, making people laugh, and sharing her expertise with climbers. More often than not, she has the opportunity to learn from her clients as well. She guides in single pitch terrain, and she thrives when coaching folks through steep routes or technical face climbs. As a guide, she’s also motivated to help women gain more confidence to be themselves in the outdoors. 

Certifications: 

• AMGA Single Pitch Instructor
• First Aid / CPR
• 
  

Availability: 

• Smith Rock: spring/fall, depending on availability  
• Washington State destinations: summer

Contact Maiza to arrange a day of private guiding for up to 6 people.

Climbing first caught Katie’s attention as an awkward teenage tomboy and over the last 17 or so years has evolved into her greatest passion. Katie began guiding with She Moves Mountains in spring of 2018 and couldn’t be more excited to be a part of this company.  Her favorite clinics to teach are Leading Trad, Crack Technique and, of course the Yoga and Climbing Retreats!  She is also available for private multi-pitch guiding and instruction as well as self-rescue skills!

Whether you’re a beginner, looking to experience outdoor climbing for the first time, someone looking to hone specific skills with the support of a guide, or a visiting climber in need of a stoked and attentive belayer, Katie will cultivate the day out to fit your needs.  Her specialties include crack technique, traditional climbing, self-rescue and multi-pitch skills.

Each day of private guiding comes with exciting scientific conversation regarding the local geology... free of charge!  Katie is also a certified yoga instructor, ask her about including climbing specific yoga to our guiding day.  

Climbing Highlights: 

• Beckey-Chouinard- 5.10+, Grade IV- South Howser Tower, Bugaboos, BC
• West Face of Colchuck Balanced Rock- 5.11 C0, Grade IV- Leavenworth, Wa.
• The Incredible Hulk- Positive Vibrations- 5.11a, Grade V- Eastern Sierra, California
• Aiguille Extra, East Face- 5.10, Grade IV- Eastern Sierra

Certifications and Awards:

• AMGA Apprentice Rock Guide
• AMGA Single Pitch Instructor
• Wilderness First Responder

Availability: 

• Joshua Tree: March/November
• Moab: April/October
• Smith Rock: May/September
• Washington State destinations: June-August

Contact Katie to arrange a day of private guiding for up to 6 people.

Amber’s life is driven by her curiosity. As a young person, Amber was curious about Central Asia, geopolitics, and foreign language. She traveled the world and made home in Turkey and Tajikistan.   

As an undergrad, Amber found a new curiosity: climbing and outdoor education! Since then, she has avidly climbed rock and alpine routes throughout the Western United States. Before graduating, Amber wrote her Honor’s College Thesis on what she calls ‘Feminist Outdoor Leadership:’ a guide to facilitation strategies for inclusion and participant empowerment in outdoor adventure.   

In 2016, Amber began her career as a professional climbing instructor. You can find her guiding alpine and mountaineering objectives in Washington’s North Cascades from May through September and crack climbs in Southern Utah during the spring and fall. In the wintertime she enthusiastically teaches avalanche education courses for AIARE. Amber is dedicated to community building, honest communication, and interactive learning. She looks forward to playing outside with you!   

Certifications:  

• AMGA Apprentice Rock Guide 
• AMGA Apprentice Alpine Guide 
• AMGA Single Pitch Instructor  
• Wilderness First Responder  
• Instructor Training Course, American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education 
• Professional Level One, American Avalanche Association Companion Rescue, American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education  

Awards: 

• Outdoor Research Scholarship for AMGA Mountain Guide Program
• Summer 2021 Kizaki-Wolf AIARE Scholarship for Instructor Training Course
• Winter 2020 Northwest Avalanche Center Women In Avalanche Industry Mentorship Program Winter 2019   

Availability:  

Washington State destinations: May-September 

Moab: fall/spring 

Contact Amber to arrange a day of private guiding for up to 6 people.

Could you give up? If you do you'll be wishing you hadn't, if you don't you have to actually try. But you can't just hang there forever. This is where you need more than a belay, more than a guide, more than an instructor. You need an ally that will encourage you to work through those dark head spaces and push yourself to the top. 

Sarah's approach to guiding will enable you to figure out your mental weaknesses in climbing and work through them step by step at your own pace.  Sarah seeks to intertwine her knowledge of human psychology with the art of climbing to break down the barriers that hold us from our true potential both on the rock and in life. 

Sarah is constantly creating lists of her goals and objectives and taking them down. She has been on a 5.12 sport climbing spree in all of the Western states from Wyoming to Nevada and is currently following her new love for 5.10 trad/multipitch. She believes that our head has a tendency to disconnect itself from the body under feelings of anxiety and oppression, and that climbing can be an incredible tool for learning how to reconnect the head and body.

So, what's holding you back? 

Sarah is an AMGA Single Pitch Instructor, working on her Rock Guide certification, and is attending grad school to become a fully licensed Mental Health Counselor and Adventure-based Therapist. Sarah holds a degree in Sociology from the Evergreen State College and is a certified Body Positivity facilitator.

Contact Sarah to arrange a day of private guiding for up to 6 people.

It all began with climbing kitchen counters and trees as a kid. In attempts to keep her on the ground, Kara’s parents buckled her into ski boots but couldn’t keep her off the jumps (They have since adapted a more hands-off parenting style). After college, Kara bounced around the world, taught kiteboarding in Hawaii, skiing in Colorado and environmental education in Hood River. Eventually making her way to Portland, she rediscovered climbing and the amazing community that she loves being a part of.

Kara has directed her focus towards being a climbing guide and environmental advocate. She also loves working with young adults and is a climbing instructor/coach at Planet Granite and volunteer guide with the Post 58, a Portland non-profit. Her side projects include a clean crag initiative and studying environmental sustainability at Portland State University.

As a mentee with She Moves Mountains, she felt immediately at home. Growing up, it was her goal to ski and play harder than all of the boys but over the years, she found embracing being a girl didn’t keep her from crushing. Kara values the comradery and freedom that comes from climbing with other ladies. Facilitating an experience in which women feel they can be their full selves is something she never knew was a possibility until she found She Moves Mountains.

Kara rediscovered climbing during a particularly challenging and pivotal time in her life; leaving the career she had always thought was right for her. She believes that climbing can act as a sense of therapy like nothing else. Climbing teaches us to have humility, develop focus and communication with our partners. It gives us a perspective of the outdoors we wouldn’t normally have and a connection to the mountains we climb. Most importantly, it is so much FUN!

Certifications and Awards:

• AMGA Single Pitch Instructor 
• AIARE I
• Wilderness First Responder
• Avi Sengupta Scholarship for Number 2 Protection project

Availability: Kara is available to guide year round at Smith Rock State Park..

Contact Kara to arrange a day of private guiding for up to 6 people.

Diem (Zim) is passionate about rock climbing and the outdoors. She first started climbing while working in Yosemite National Park as an environmental educator and backpacking guide. With the backdrop of the El Cap and Half Dome, climbing pretty quickly became an inseparable part of her life. She fell in love with the beautiful places and the community that come hand in hand with climbing.

When she’s not working as a rock climbing guide and climbing store manager, you can find her adventuring in Squamish and all over Washington. There’s nothing she loves more than spending a beautiful day out on the rock followed by good friends & good food. Originally from California, she’s always chasing sunshine. She absolutely loves crack climbing and sharing the joy of climbing with others!

With a breadth of experience in education and climbing, her focus on providing quality instruction and fostering a positive learning environment will make for an awesome day out!  

Certifications and Awards:

• AMGA Apprentice Rock Guide
• AMGA Single Pitch Instructor 
• Wilderness First Responder

Availability: Diem is based in Seattle,WA and is available with advanced notice. 

Contact Diem to arrange a day of private guiding for up to 6 people.