Written by Hailey McFelia | Edited by Alexandra Erdman
Here, at Sender One, we find it very important to celebrate women in climbing. Our very own CEO is a woman, Alice Kao. Alice has just been presented with the Golden Crown Award from the Global Federation of Chinese Business Women. Congratulations Alice! Since about half of our entire community is women, it would only make sense that we would use Women’s Appreciation Month as an excuse to celebrate women in climbing.
Playa Vista showed us that taking time to climb with your “girl gang” is the way to go! We hosted a screening of the documentary Girls Gone Hueco and served refreshments from a women-owned brewery (Three Weavers). The documentary follows 5 women adventuring out in Hueco Tanks and these women boulder their hearts out while still working a day job! Before the screening Playa hosted a special Send with Women event which gave the community a chance to (literally) stop and smell the roses with a make your own bouquet station. Some climbers took the opportunity to throw some flowers in their hair and send some routes, while others found it to be a fun activity to do while they tuned into different documentaries featuring women climbers such as Nina Williams and Sasha Digiulian. During the event vendors came in to interact with guests and show their crafts (all vendors were woman owned groups and companies). All and all the event was a great way for the ladies of our community to come together and enjoy not just the safe space that sender one has created.
Sender One LAX also put on a fantastic event empowering women! The event was sponsored by women-lead company, Wondery Outdoors. Wondery Outdoors put together an awesome women-owned vendor village, bouldering competition, and an amazing raffle! Proceeds for the event went toward Black Girls Climb. We also hosted three clinics led by Sender One staff members! Laurel showed us the ways of the speed wall, Stella brought all the powerful shorties to the yard for a Short Beta clinic, and Kadisha showed us the ropes with an Intro to Climbing class. Wondery Outdoors gave away over 100 Isabell pants to guests and we had about 300 attendees in total! Wondery pants were everywhere along with smiles and sends.
If you’re located closer to SNA, we have another fun women-focused event on March 18th! Ascend Together is an event put on with The Cairn Project to highlight Anna Hazelnutt’s film ‘To Bolt or Not To Be’ followed by a discussion with Anna about gender inclusivity in the world of climbing. If you haven’t had a chance to familiarize yourself with this delightful human check out and fun interview we had with her https://www.senderoneclimbing.com/send-with-women-anna-hazelnutt/. You can also scope out her fun climbing content on her Youtube channel. 10/10 highly recommended.
The Cairn Project which supports outdoor learning & leadership for girls+ around the US. To raise funds for the Cairn Project there will be a raffle before the screening so make sure you arrive before the screening to support! The raffle is at 7pm and the screening is at 7:30pm. The screening will be followed by a conversation on gender inclusivity in outdoor spaces.
Sender One is proud to provide a safe space for women and non binary climbers, but what does that really mean? I think it means a fun space where you feel you can be yourself fully. No shame or worries. So if you’d like to join us just as you are, join us for our Send With Women initiative meetups!
- SNA: Ascend Together x The Cairns Project: sign up here!
- Playa Vista: Send with Women | Every 4th Thursday of the month 7-9pm
- LAX: Ladies Climbing Coalition | Every 2nd Thursday of the month 7-9pm