Nana Saatchi (they/them)

Scholarship Recipient | 2022 Flash Foxy Climbing Festival - Bishop

Happy folks enjoying time together taken by @pterrellyn

I was set to attend Flash Foxy in March of 2020 when, as we all know, the world took a turn and made other plans for everyone. It felt a mixture of exciting, unnerving and kind of intense to board my flight to finally head to the festival two years later. When I first laid eyes on the valley nestled between the mountains I felt in awe. Bishop is known for being a climbing destination but it is the land of the Nüümü Peoples and called Payahuunadü. I was grateful to visit the Owens Valley Paiute-Shoshone Cultural Center and learn about the water conservation work being done by the nation among many other things. 

Being at the festival felt like a dance between accommodating a need for more affinity spaces within climbing culture for non-cishetwhitedudes and the very real and urgent call for solidarity with Indigenous sovereignty movements. The climbing is amazing, that definitely isn’t news. But my experience has left me thinking about better ways to travel and engage responsibly not just as a climber but as a community member. I’m grateful for the misfits that show up in these spaces and help remind me that all of us have a deeply rooted need to belong to land and to each other. 

My time in Payahuunadü felt like a time for reflection on my own privilege as a climber who can afford to travel in pursuit of recreation as well as a queer poc in need of community that often requires me to uproot for short periods of time. I’m grateful to the festival for creating space for identities to come together across the queer spectrum and gender spectrums.