FESTIVAL FAQ
Flash Foxy Climbing Festival • BISHOP • March 14-16, 2025
What is the Flash Foxy Climbing Festival?
Flash Foxy Climbing Festival is a three-day event that brings together and celebrates the growing community of women and genderqueer climbers. The inaugural Women’s Climbing Festival in February 2016 helped us establish an alternative climbing space in real life that did not center cisgender men. After a two year hiatus due to COVID-19, we came back in 2022 as the Flash Foxy Climbing Festival with an expanded mission to serve women and gender non-conforming (GNC) folks ! We hope that the Flash Foxy Climbing Festival will not only reach experienced climbers but also provide a safe space for beginner climbers to come and learn more about all that climbing has to offer! Check out OUR PHOTO ALBUMS to see what it looks like when hundreds of women and genderqueer folks gather in the desert for a weekend of community + climbing.
*The Flash Foxy Climbing Festival was formerly known as the Women’s Climbing Festival
When is the festival?
The 2025 Flash Foxy Climbing Festival will take place the weekend of March 15-17, 2024.
Where is the festival located?
The festival is located in Bishop, California. If you’ve never been to Bishop, check out our recommendations for Lodging + Local Beta. We even made you this sample Desert Packing List to help make sure you’re warm enough, cool enough, and watered enough out here!
Festival events will be occurring in several locations throughout the town of Bishop as well as at several climbing areas. Specific event locations will be listed on the Schedule of Events when finalized.
Do I have to be an experienced rock climber to attend the festival?
Not at all - beginners are welcome! We welcome women and genderqueer folks of all climbing experience levels. There will be several intro and beginning clinics and workshops in addition to intermediate and advanced offerings. The festival will be a great opportunity to try out climbing in a safe and supportive environment.
Do I need to register to attend the festival?
Yes! Registration is required to attend the festival and the number of participants is limited to 350. Learn more about Registration!
What is included in the cost of registration?
FRIDAY: Opening Party, Happy Hour, Arts & Crafts, Welcome Presentation, DJ Dance Party
SATURDAY: Breakfast, Climbing Demos, Arts & Crafts, Evening Yoga, Dinner, Panel, Film Screenings
SUNDAY: Morning Workshop, Breakfast, Stewardship Project, Community Slideshow
SWAG from our generous sponsors!
Please see the Registration page for more detail.
What is not included in the cost of registration?
Clinics: $90/clinic. Registration is open only to festival ticket holders. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer refunds or transfers for clinics. More info here.
Lodging: see Lodging + Local Beta for our recs
Climbing Equipment Rental: Shoe + harness demos will be available from our sponsors, however access to demos is not guaranteed. All participants are responsible for their own climbing equipment. Check out the local gear shop, Sage to Summit for gear purchases/rentals and guidebooks!
Transportation: All festival ticket holders will receive a link to a ride-share spreadsheet to help coordinate transportation. This link can be found in the festival linktree (it’s in your Eventbrite confirmation email, save it!!). All participants are responsible for their own transportation to/from the festival and to/from venues throughout the weekend. Grocery stores and restaurants are within walking distance (less than 1 mile) from the festival venue. Camping, hotels, and hostels are available within walking distance from the festival venue. Access to a vehicle is necessary for getting to climbing areas independently. We highly encourage festival participants to carpool!
Refunds: This event is rain or shine. We cannot guarantee weather conditions, crag conditions or any other element of climbing, road or trail access. There are no refunds for this event.
Do you need to be registered for the festival to sign up for a clinic?
Yes, clinics are only open to registered festival participants. Clinics are subject to limited attendance. Purchase of a festival pass does not guarantee that you will be able to register for a clinic. Our most popular clinics often sell out within minutes! Early Bird Festival Pass holders will receive the registration link on February 14 (24hrs early!). Registration link will be sent to all other ticket holders on February 15.
Are scholarships available?
Yes! Please see more information on our Registration Page (scroll down!).
Who can attend the festival?
Flash Foxy welcomes all women and genderqueer climbers to join us at the Flash Foxy Climbing Festival. We use this as an umbrella term for all folks of non-dominant genders, including all trans and gender non-conforming folks. Still not sure if this space is for you? Check out our FAQs about who Flash Foxy is for.
This is an all-ages event - children and elders are welcome! Special pricing is available for families with young children. To learn more about Family Festival Passes, including bringing your kiddos with you to the festival or supporting a young climber who wants to attend, please email us at events@flashfoxy.com.
Our goal is to create and maintain a safe and diverse space where consent and respect are our first priorities. Harassment of any kind (unwanted contact, verbal or physical abuse, racism, homophobia, transphobia, body-shaming, etc.) will NOT be tolerated and will lead to being asked to leave.
Can I bring my dog?
As much as we love dogs, they are not allowed at primary festival programming including the opening party, film screenings, presentations, clinics, workshops and stewardship projects. Our events are jam packed with both humans and activities and can be an overwhelming experience for our canine friends. Additionally, dogs can be a safety hazard at the crag. To avoid conflict, we would prefer that you leave your pup at home. Thank you for understanding!
Dogs are welcome to come hang outdoors at the Foxy Fair on Saturday at the Tri-County Fairgrounds!
Service dogs are allowed at all festival programming. If you will be bringing a service animal to your clinic or workshop please email events@flashfoxy.com so that we can ensure that the venue can accommodate dogs. Some approaches involve delicate scrambling and are not safe for dogs.
What if I purchased a festival pass and no longer can attend?
Unfortunately, we can NOT offer refunds. However, we truly understand that circumstances can change and that you probably want your money back. While we cannot offer refunds, we strive to facilitate ticket transfers whenever possible! You must find someone who wants your ticket (tag us in your stories or post in our Facebook group for help finding someone!). If tickets sell out and a waitlist forms, we can offer ticket transfers to folks on the waitlist. Please note that as the festival date approaches, processing refunds and ticket transfers becomes more challenging.
The deadline to request a ticket transfers is Friday, March 7th. If you've purchased a pass but find yourself unable to attend, please contact us right away at events@flashfoxy.com.
Is this event rain or shine?
Yes, our event is rain or shine! Regardless of the weather, we will have a good time! We cannot guarantee access to climbing or any specific climbing areas. Part of climbing outdoors is respecting the land and learning to make the best of whatever Mother Nature throws our way!
We cannot guarantee weather conditions, crag conditions, or any other element of climbing, road, or trail access. There are no refunds for this event.
Where can I find information about accessibility of venues + programing?
All primary festival event venues (opening party, open air market, film screenings, panels) will be held at wheelchair accessible venues and will have accessible bathrooms. The Opening Party and Foxy Fair take place outside in a flat grassy field with paved paths. Film screenings, panel, dinner and other activities will take place in the Heritage Arts Building at the Tri-County Fairgrounds - this building is ground-level. The Community Slideshow will take place at Mountain Rambler Brewery - this building is ground-level. Seating will be available during all events.
All films will have captions in English. ASL interpreters can be coordinated upon request. Please email events@flashfoxy.com to discuss your needs.
Approaches differ by climbing area. Details about approaches can be at the bottom of the Schedule, or can be found on Mountain Project.
Have an accessibility concern? Reach out to events@flashfoxy.com and we’ll see how we can help!
We are always working to make the Flash Foxy Climbing Festival a more inclusive and welcoming space, please let us know what we can do to make our event more accessible for you. Unfortunately, we are not always able to arrange accommodations, but we will do our best and will provide honest answers about the our event spaces, staff capabilities and the activities that take place at our festivals. Thank you for learning and growing with us!
What’s your Covid-19 Plan?
All festival attendees must be fully vaccinated to attend the Flash Foxy Climbing Festival in Bishop. To request a vaccine exemption please email events@flashfoxy.com. Exemptions will only be granted for those with medical conditions preventing them from receiving a vaccine.
If you are unvaccinated and have purchased a ticket please email events@flashfoxy.com and we will do our best to accommodate a ticket transfer. Please refer to our refund policy (above) for more details - although, we hope you’ll choose to get vaccinated instead!
Face masks will be optional for all events (indoors and outdoors). Disposable face masks will be available on site.
If changes in your personal circumstances related to Covid-19 affect your comfort levels with attending the festival, we may be able to facilitate a ticket transfer. We cannot guarantee ticket transfers. No Refunds.
If you have a positive Covid-19 test or contact with someone with a confirmed or suspected case of Covid-19 within one week of the festival we ask that you do not attend. Please inform us immediately and we will do our best to facilitate a ticket transfer. We cannot guarantee ticket transfers. No Refunds.
Additionally, we request that if you are sick - even if it’s not Covid - that you stay home. We don’t like missing events any more than you do, but we also really don’t like being sick. We especially don’t like putting our immunocompromised community members at risk. If you’re recovering from illness or think you might be getting sick… consider wearing a mask in all group settings <3
If we have to cancel any Flash Foxy event or program due to rising Covid-19 cases or other national emergency ticket holders will have the following refund options:
50% Refund (standard policy if no action taken by ticket holder)
100% Refund (by email request to events@flashfoxy.com)
Donate full ticket price to Flash Foxy
We ask ticket holders who have the financial ability to keep in mind that the majority of our festival expenses are fixed and non-refundable (employee salaries, insurance, perishable goods, deposits, etc). We greatly appreciate our community and your on-going support.
Our Covid-19 plan may be updated at any time. If you have any questions please email events@flashfoxy.com.
Insurance
Flash Foxy is not responsible for covering additional trip expenses, including change or cancellation fees for travel, lodging accommodations, rental cars, or other arrangements. For your protection, we strongly recommend purchasing trip insurance. Trip insurance can compensate you in the event that you’re no longer able to attend a program. Check out this article for more information about finding and choosing travel insurance.
Climbing is dangerous. Especially if you don’t have regular health insurance, we recommend getting some kind of medical coverage such as accident insurance. Global Rescue is one such service.