Scholarship Recipient | 2022 Flash Foxy Climbing Festival - Bishop

I am grateful for the intersectional efforts of the Flash Foxy Climbing Festival. Many times, I have found myself in women–designed spaces for primarily women, in order to find a similarly desired refuge, while asking myself, Do I belong here?

As a non-binary trans individual, I am used to feeling out of place in gendered spaces. Flash Foxy’s founder Shelma Jun and her team recognized the need for more explicit inclusions of gender non-comforming (GNC) folks and responded this year by expanding its definition and mission. They sent an overt message to the genderquer community, and the sentiment was felt and echoed by all of the GNC participants whom I joined over the weekend. Many voiced this was the first time they had the opportunity to only climb with other GNC folks, and that it was such a comfortable and liberating experience. We all felt safe to be ourselves on and off of the wall.

I did not come into climbing because I am queer, as generally we come to the sport for our own reasons, regardless of our gender or sexuality. I grew up in Florida, where it is pretty flat and wet, so I did not know climbing was a thing people did until later in life. I was lucky in that I was working in the outdoor education industry and had coworkers who taught me the sport–not everyone has such fortuitous circumstances. I continued to climb because of how it made me feel mentally, emotionally, physically, and socially. Overall, it has improved my quality of life, and everyone deserves access to such benefits.

At the 2022 Flash Foxy Climbing Festival, there were several speakers, each with their own challenges to access, who are passionate about increasing access to nature. Climbing culture is a microcosm of the greater world around us, and the obstacles minorities face in climbing are extended to their social and work dynamics. Similarly, the skills we learn in climbing can also be used to help us manage the rest of our lives.

I took the GNC: Warrior’s Way clinic with Lor Sabourin over the Flash Foxy weekend. During the session, Lor guided us through techniques in order to fall confidently. The exercises helped us train how to push through our fears in order to focus and commit to the moment. Lor reiterated that the skills we learned in the clinic can be applied to our everyday experiences–to breathe through the challenges and come back to our bodies when our minds are overloaded.

Climbing makes me value my body for what it can do, rather than what it looks like. It gives me those happy chemicals in the brain and makes me a better person to be around. It allows me to make long-lasting friends through the community. This sport can do a lot for a person, and Flash Foxy recognizes that value. Sometimes the key to greater change starts with what we can control.

One of the ways Flash Floxy increases equitable access is through scholarships, so people like me can join in a shared feeling we have never experienced before, and leave with a set of skills that we can pass on to those in our local communities. I work in outdoor education and mentorship and am passionate about spreading my passion for the sport, as well as teaching its benefits. Thank you REI, Inc. for supporting Flash Foxy’s mission, as well as my own.

Henry Adamson (they/them)

Melanie Williams (she/her)

Naomi Maldonado Rodriguez (she/her)