Let's Go Climbing

After years of climbing all over the United States and Patagonia, Lizzy started She Moves Mountains as a means to confront the lack of female presence in the climbing and professional guiding world. She has been invited to guide at climbing festivals throughout the US, spoken on numerous panels, and has been featured in articles in both Climbing and Outside Magazine. While her heart belongs to climbing long beautiful lines in the mountains, her favorite class to teach is the Intro to Outdoors because in her words, “I love being alongside of others as they experience all of the challenges and beauty of rock climbing for the very first time.”

Whether your goal is to try rock climbing for the very first time, have an exciting day exploring a new area, or to learn mental techniques to push yourself while on lead - Lizzy will make sure to cater your climbing day to meet your goals.   

Climbing Highlights: 

• Make Me Sanguine -5.13a, Trad, 1 Pitch and a First Ascent
• Winter Sustenance - 5.12b/c, Trad, 1 Pitch: Trout Creek, OR
• Beckey-Chouinard - 5.10+, Trad/Alpine, 2000ft, 15 Pitches, Grade IV: South Howser Tower, Bugaboos
• Rubio y Azul - 5.11a, Trad/Alpine, 1150ft, 10 Pitches, Grade IV: Media Luna, El Chalten Patagonia

Certifications and Awards:

• AMGA Apprentice Rock Guide
• AMGA Single Pitch Instructor
• Wilderness First Responder
• Guide Like Liz Scholarship, in honor of Liz Daley

Media Features: 

• Finding the Path: Women in the Guiding Industry
• Women in Climbing Podcast: 6 Lizzy VanPatten
• Moving Mountains - Klipsun Magazine 
• Heroes of the Women’s Climbing Festival - Outside Magazine
• Ancient Art - Super Frenchie

Contact Lizzy 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: 

• Smith Rock: April 1- May 31
• Washington State destinations: June 14- August 31
• Smith Rock: September/October

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

There’s nothing Jenny loves more than a good adventure and covering a lot of ground in the mountains. Throughout the past seven years, she’s slowly ticked off dream lines in areas such as Patagonia, the Bugaboos, the North Cascades, Zion, and even Rio di Janeiro. Now, in what she would call her “retirement from climbing,” Jenny’s far more concerned about the quality of the adventure than the difficulty of the climbing. You can still find her roaming the west in her old blue Safari van, although she’s now based in Bend and works as an editor. Jenny is also known to write about her experiences in the vertical, and has been published in Climbing Magazine, Alpinist, and Adventure Journal, to name a few.

If you’re wanting to learn how to move quickly on rock, multi-pitch proficiency skills, or anything related to trad climbing—or if you just want to have a nice day climbing and chatting about life—Jenny is your gal. At 34, she’s also the oldest member of the She Moves Mountains team, and can participate in discussions ranging from relationships and philosophy to life purpose and the ticking biological time clock.

Climbing Highlights: 

• All Along the Watchtower - 5.11+, Grade V, North Howser Tower, Bugaboos
• Pilar Rojo, 5.11+, Aguja Mermoz, Patagonia
• DNB of Bear, the-grade-doesn’t-matter-because-the-adventure-was-so-good, North Cascades

Certifications:

• PCGI Lead Guide
• Wilderness First Responder

Media Features: 

• Der Link-up video
• All Along the Watchtower video 
• Pacific Vim feature
• Outville feature – but you’ll have to be able to read German!
• On Location: El Chaltén
• Jenny’s also a widely published writer! Find some of her work here.

Availability: Jenny will be available to climb with from March - June at Smith Rock State Park 

Contact Jenny 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.

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 California 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 with an emphasis in Adventure-based Therapy. 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.

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.