Show Notes:

Amy’s Links:

• Fifth Class Climbing

Episode Intro:

Dear listeners of the Female Guides Requested Podcast, happy Wednesday! I’m your host, Ting Ting. I’m currently working and playing in the Pacific Northwest, escaping the heat of Las Vegas. Early this year, I finally caught up with Amy Shore from Fifth Class Climbing, based in Bishop, California! And I’m excited to share our conversations with you.

Amy grew up in North Dakota and spent her young adult years traveling the world while pursuing her college degree in International Studies. After finding climbing at the age of 21, it became her life’s passion and has been a main focus of her life for almost two decades.

Bouldering, sport & trad climbing, establishing big wall first ascents in the Sierra and Patagonia, guiding 14,000 ft peaks… Amy loves the vast array of disciplines that climbing allows one to pursue. Establishing Fifth Class Climbing School in 2016 allowed her the freedom to guide what really inspired her, which was not big mountain objectives, but rather women’s events and courses that focus on teaching women to be independent climbers.

In 2021, Amy became the lead safety manager for a National Geographic TV show, combining guiding with rigging and logistics, and traveling the world to do it.

Most recently, Amy became a mom and now has a 20-month-old son. She still runs and guides for Fifth Class and is currently most interested in a new pursuit: projecting sport climbs. The day after our interview, Amy sent her first 5.13.

Things We Talked about:

• From Whitney Base Camp to Fifth Class Climbing
• Wanted to work with different clientele to focus more on instructions
• Instructed before she became a climber
• Upbringing – explored outdoors and tried different sports
• Travel and then Travel & Climb
• From pebble wrestling to big walls
• Mom & projecting single pitch sport climbs
• Training entered her life
• Guiding is an empowering profession
• Started her own business in 2016 – Fifth Class Climbing and School
• Rigging for TV shows
• Changes and transitions after having a kid
• Why Amy loves logistical challenges

Quotes:

• There’s a small amount that is a part of me that likes to suffer and push myself and see what I can do.
• When you’re in that kind of mindset of doing big wall first ascents and alpine climbing and then guiding, you’re in a very much no fall territory.
• I get to be the places I love being. I get to teach and I get to give people an amazing experience that is maybe once in a lifetime for them. maybe get them hooked so that they’re doing this all the time. and it was empowering
• It’s nice to be able to facilitate programs that people are excited about offering and helping them make that happen through the permitting and stuff.
• As adults, we kind of take ourselves seriously and as a kid, you just do what you want to do.
• That risk tolerance thing changing [has] been a really interesting part of it for me. And sometimes I think it’s good guiding wise because I do have a lower risk tolerance than I used to. And I think that I see things and maybe this is from spotting my son too, but I think I see things preemptively better than I used to.
• That’s why I really like doing the rigging work and the TV work as well is that I think I logistics is kind of my jam
• I love hearing that kind of feedback after guiding. And it’s a special industry we’re in. we get to help people realize their dreams.

Show Notes:

Alexis’s Links:

• @alexiskrauss – Alexis personal IG
• @riseoutsidecollective – Rise Outside IG
• @kinshipclimbingcollective – Kinship Climbing Collective IG
• Rise Outside Website
• The Transformative Power of Nature Connection | Alexis Krauss | TEDxBoston

Episode Intro:

Happy Wednesday! This is Ting Ting, and I’m currently in my home country, Taiwan, welcoming you to a new episode of the Female Guides Requested Podcast. I’m excited to announce that today’s guest is Alexis Krauss. Alexis wears many hats.

Alexis is a long-time lover of the outdoors and teaching, with a background in elementary education and human rights. She has been guiding outdoor adventures since 2016 and especially loves sharing the transformative power of nature with youth.

An avid climber, she is an AMGA Apprentice Rock Guide, a Single Pitch Instructor, and a NYS-licensed climbing and hiking guide.

She is an outdoor educator with Wild Earth, a New York non-profit that provides transformative outdoor experiences for youth in the Hudson Valley.

Alexis is also a co-founder of Kinship Climbing Collective, a climbing and leadership program for New York City girls and gender-expansive youth, and Rise Outside, a New York-based 501(c)(3)dedicated to creating access to outdoor adventures for underrepresented communities through inclusive and qualified mentorship.

Additionally, Alexis is a working musician and one-half of the band Sleigh Bells.

Chatting with her was so easy and fun. Her dedication and passion for uplifting youth and sharing the love of climbing were obvious. Without further ado, let’s enjoy the episode with Alexis Krauss.

Things We Talked about:

• Many hats – Sleigh Bells, Outdoor Education, Climbing etc. Things in different fields that connect
• How Alexis discovered outside climbing and why was that experience intense and life-changing
• Climbing and dancing
• Want to share this special thing and love to her community
• Alexis’s mentor at the Gunks
• Alexis’s always has a passion for working with young people
• Young Women Who Crush -> Kinship Climbing Collective -> Rise Outside
• The mentor and mentee relationships
• Time management
• Alexis’s personal experience taking an affinity AMGA Rock Guide Course (All women)
• Self and the community
• Motherhood

Photo credit: Trevor Riley

Show Notes:

Emma’s Links:

• Emma’s website: https://www.emmarwalker.com/
• Emma’s book: https://www.falconguides.com/9781493052783/dead-reckoning/
• AIARE website: https://avtraining.org/

Episode Intro:

Dear listeners of the Female Guides Requested Podcast, welcome back and happy Wednesday! This is your host, Ting Ting. Right now, I’m in my home country, Taiwan, teaching some rock climbing courses. Our guest today is Emma Walker. Emma spends a lot of time outdoors and currently serves as the Education Director for the American Institute for Avalanche Research & Education (AIARE).

Emma is a career outdoor educator with a background in curriculum design and a particular interest in accident analysis. A jill-of-all-trades, she has worked as a raft guide, avalanche educator, and in numerous other outdoor jobs, and has also made ends meet as a waitress, horse groom, and kindergarten teacher. She lives in Spring Green, Wisconsin, with her husband, son, and two badly behaved dogs.

Talking with Emma was so soothing; she answered all my questions with thoughtfulness and compassion. I gained so much knowledge from our conversations and couldn’t wait to incorporate all that wisdom into my daily guiding because, as she said, ‘good guiding is education.’ Now please enjoy this episode with Emma Walker.

Things We Talked about:

• The love of the outdoors stems from childhood
• Teaching runs in the family. Emma chose to be an educator but wanted to make sure she could spend much time outdoors
• The impact of the first NOLS course
• From Colorado to Alaska
• Place-based education
• Macro landscape VS. micro landscape
• What is Emma’s interpretation of experiential learning
• Emma’s short river guiding career
• Toughness doesn’t equate high risk tolerance
• What do we want to be remembered?
• What exactly does a curriculum specialist do?
• What does that mean by “student-centered”?
• How do we evaluate the effectiveness of a course?
• Adjust the avalanche education based on travel modes
• Why diversity is important in avalanche industry and other spaces?
• Emma’s book – DEAD RECKONING: LEARNING FROM ACCIDENTS IN THE OUTDOORS