Jess Pleyel (She/her)

Scholarship Recipient | 2024 Flash Foxy Climbing Festival - Bishop

When I think of Flash Foxy, I immediately think of community, safety, and support. Having the opportunity to go the Flash Foxy as a scholarship recipient was a dream come true. I was able to connect with badass and inspiring climbers from all over. I was lucky enough to listen and be a part of important conversations about how we can continue to support each other, and our intersecting identities. I climbed trad AND sport and met some amazing friends who are now my belay-baes. It was also exciting to reconnect with other folks who have been at Flash Foxy events before and pick up where we left off. It always feels like coming home when I am at a Flash Foxy Climbing Fest.

Thanks to the scholarship, I was able to afford one of the clinics. I took the Self-Rescue Clinic with Sean and DJ. My bestie, Christie, and I were able to practice rescue skills with each other, and I was able to gain more skills that will help me as I continue my education beyond my Single Pitch Instructor license. In this clinic, I connected with another Ambassador for the Ladies Climbing Coalition, and we are now hoping to plan some collaborative trips between the LCC chapters in Ogden, UT, and Portland, OR!

When I left Flash Foxy, I was inspired to see that this community of gender-marginalized folks is changing climbing spaces for the better. It heartens me to be in spaces like Flash Foxy. It also inspires me to continue the work I do in my community here in Ogden, UT.

Utah is a challenging space for queer folks, women, and people of color. This festival comes right at the same time as a particularly brutal legislative session that gutted equity, diversity, and inclusion programming in higher education, and is enforcing harmful locker room and bathroom legislations that are dangerous for our genderqueer and trans community.

This festival reminded me that although Utah is a hard place to live right now, I can continue to create change in the spaces I am in.

I will continue to uplift and support my community and create safe and inclusive climbing spaces. I am creating more outdoor opportunities for queer and femme climbers here in Ogden, and have begun trauma-informed climbing clinics for survivors of domestic and sexual violence.

In a nutshell, this photo encapsulates how I feel about Flash Foxy:

Love y’all. Thank you for what you do. Flash Foxy has made a difference in my life, and so many others. <3