I went to my first rock climbing festival this weekend, the Flash Foxy Chattanooga Women’s Climbing Festival. I’ve been climbing off and on over the last 5 years and have been on a pretty solid streak recently since my friends started climbing as well. For some reason, I had just never heard of climbing festivals before or it never crossed my mind to go to one.
I had asked a friend or two if they’d like to go to this one with me and they said no. I didn’t end up buying a ticket the day they went on sale and figured they would sell out right away. But a few weeks later I figured what the hell, they still had tickets, and decided to go on my own.
I set up an Airbnb for myself + 4 strangers that I connected with through the festival FB page, scheduled my days off of work, and signed up for a couple of clinics. They day before I was packing at the last minute, not really sure of what I was getting myself into.
On the surface, I think I was going mainly for the climbing. An opportunity to climb outdoors, since I don’t have the skills to go on my own or with my friends. I’ve climbed outdoors some before, but it’s been a few years and I was itching to get out on some real rock instead of just pulling plastic. Plus, the fall colors and cool temps of fall are my favorite time of year and I’ll take any excuse to get outdoors. And I’ve been progressing well with my climbing lately, doing a lot of 5.10s and getting into 5.10+/5.11-, so I thought a couple clinics could help me make that leap to a 5.11.
To be honest, I ended up barely climbing that weekend. And that was ok. Actually, it was more than ok. I had an amazing weekend.
The rain rolled in Friday afternoon and was a torrential downpour during our welcome presentation (outdoors). Clinics were being questioned for Saturday and no one seemed to really know how the festival was going to make it work with the rain. But people turned up anyways. We’re a tough crowd.
I was reminded on my drive home of Jocko Wilink’s response to something bad happening. Good. It’s going to rain all weekend? Good, gives us time to work on mental toughness. Forearms pumped right away and can’t climb anymore? Good, I needed the rest and now I can learn by watching others. Incline wall can’t go higher than 28 degrees? Good, I needed to work on steeper overhangs anyways. Hiked the wrong way out and need to double back? Good, we get extra hiking time and leg strengthening.
This is a great mindset to have. There was a lot about the weekend that was out of my control. Like I said, I had planned on getting to climb a lot, preferably outdoors, and that being the main purpose of this weekend for me. In reality, our bouldering session got rained out so we were indoors on a steep wall where I burned out right away and couldn’t climb after the first hour. And the second day, but the time we hiked in, got set up, went through demos, I got to climb two routes (which was lucky because some only climbed one). The thing is though, even though I climbed less in those two days than I would at a regular weeknight gym session, I learned so much.
I had the privilege to work with Abby Dione, the first African American female to own a climbing gym. She was our instructor for V Up: intro to bouldering. And what a badass she is. She was incredibly warm and encouraging and I could listen to her talk about climbing technique, movement, and philosophy for hours. She was ready to meet us wherever we were at, no judgement, and help each of us to find something in our own climbing to work on and take back to our own gyms. Just recently on a work trip I had decided to film myself for the first time climbing. I was so curious to see what my movement on the wall looked like compared to how I envisioned it in my head. So, I was super stoked when Abby filmed each of us climbing and started breaking down our technique and pointing out what we were doing well and where we were struggling, and them talking through and demonstrating how we could improve in those areas. It was an incredibly valuable session.
I was so stoked to continue climbing and get more of her feedback. But after the first round, I couldn’t even grab the holds anymore. I had had an incredibly long week at home, sleeping on the chair and loveseat in the living room, having given up my bed for visiting family. Then I had a 10+ hour drive down to Tennessee from Detroit. I had barely any gas in my tank and I used it all up bouldering the overhung wall. I was crushed. I hoped after 30-45 minutes of rest I could climb some more. No such luck. I was done for. It was incredibly frustrating. Here I had come this entire way to climb and get feedback and I couldn’t even get my feet off the floor anymore. I was tempted to disengage. I could have gone in the other room, been on my phone, or even just taken an Uber and left. For a minute there I was close to tears (I think there were a lot of tears shed by the group that weekend). But at one point I just decided, I can’t climb today, and that’s ok. I still have so much to learn by taking this time to really watch others, think through my own critique of their movements, and compare that to Abby’s advice and comments. There were a lot of things I recognized in other’s techniques that I knew I do, like “tall girl climbing.” So, I was able to observe that and Abby’s corrections and watch others implement it and get better. The ability to observe and analyze another person’s climbing technique and movement is really valuable. I went in thinking I would get to practice my own bouldering and maybe learn a few new skills or techniques. And I walked away with a better appreciation of the power of observation, thoughtful climbing, respecting my body, and being a good sport.
At the end of the session, we had a pretty emotional circle where we each went around and said what went well for us, what we thought could have gone better, and then one thing about each of the other women in our group. I came just to the brink of tears when I talked about how frustrated I had been at not being able to climb, but it was heartening to hear others talk about what a good sport I had been and how I hadn’t checked out and was able to still show up positively and contribute to the group and help others with their climbing.
At the end of a long first day and struggling hardcore to put my socks on (my arms were that shot!) I was really hoping my second day would go a little bit better. I just wanted to get out on the rock at least once and climb something, anything. And I got my wish. The rain finally let up. We even saw some blue sky! After a good night’s sleep and a great breakfast, I was on my way to Foster Falls for my intro to lead session. It’s been a few years since I last lead climbed and I thought this would be a good refresher to get back into the swing of things. Our athlete for the day was Lizzie ____. I had heard good things about her, and she did not disappoint! Her and our guide Brook led us on a nice hike down past the falls and to the spot they had scouted out for us where we would have a 5.5 and 5.7 to practice on.
Lizzie was so straight forward and honest about everything. She was demonstrating lead climbing for us on the 5.7 and straight up told us she was a little nervous and sketched out looking at this climb. And she’s climbed 5.13s. I appreciated her honesty. Her thought process was that if she can just be straightforward about her emotions or fears, then she doesn’t have to put on a brave face or a façade and she can just be herself and have more authentic interactions with the group she’s with. There’s no need to have that macho mentality and pretend that nothing phases you. Everyone gets scared climbing. Depending on your experience and skill level, it just might happen further down the line. But everyone gets scared.
Climbing that 5.7 on top rope, mock leading later, I know I was definitely sketched out on that climb. And that was with a top rope!
The session ended up being a great refresher, and having volunteered to mock lead first, I ended up getting to climb twice, plus I got some feedback from Lizzie on my climb. The instructors go in prepared with a basic plan, but it’s always fun, the serendipitous things you get to learn. For example, I got to learn and practice stick clipping, with a natural stick! It probably sounds weird, but this brought me so much joy! I had read about stick clipping your first bolt down in Red River George being recommended but still didn’t really understand the concept and hadn’t seen it done in person. And Brook was awesome and found a natural branch and demonstrated for us and let me practice later with a clip and rope.
By the end of the session I just wanted Lizzie to be my best friend and share all her climbing and life knowledge with me. She was just so friendly and kind and genuine and honest. I couldn’t imagine having better coaches at my first ever climbing festival.
The real value in this festival though, beyond the $10 Patagonia jacket (amazing!) and the Indian Food and the awesome panel of climbers and the clinics I signed up for, was the people I met. I met some truly amazing people. I went into my Airbnb not knowing a single one of the 4 strangers I’d be staying with that weekend, and I walked out with 4 new friends. Katie, Sophie, Ashley, and Celeste(y) were great. It was so nice to bond with other women, all brought together by our shared love of climbing. We were different ages, from different parts of the country, different amounts of climbing experience and different areas of interest. But we bonded over hard cider and ice cream and tales of climbing adventures. We shared resources and stories and insights from our different climbing clinics. They let me know when they met other climbers from Detroit, so I’d have more climbing buddies, they commiserated with me over a rough first day of climbing, they played hooky with me when I just needed sleep and a solid breakfast. Our athletes and guides shared their personal stories with us, the hardships they’ve faced and advice for us. The incredible panel of women talked about the challenges they’ve had to overcome. The women in my climbing clinics were eager to celebrate your successes and help you when you stumbled. The women’s climbing community is an amazing thing. They were so open and understanding and welcoming, it was cozy, like wearing your favorite sweater and thick socks, curled up by the fire with a good book and a mug of hot chocolate. All the warm fuzzy feelings.
So, I went into the weekend looking to do a lot of climbing outside, ended up doing hardly any, and came out of the weekend with some new friends, a new perspective on the value of women’s climbing festivals, and anticipation for the festivals to come in 2020! I know I’ll be back at Flash Foxy with some friends and may even hit up an Ice Climbing festival as well!
Credit to @lizzyvanpatten
