Ladies Climbing Coalition Ambassadors
My recent climbing trip to Red Rock, Las Vegas, Nevada was one I will not forget! This trip was hosted by the Ladies Climbing Coalition (LCC), where ambassadors from all over the United States came together to finally meet and climb with one another. Leading into this trip, I was very nervous seeing as this was the first time I would be lead climbing outside with a group of ladies that I barely knew. It was really hard to trust my life with someone I didn’t even know. Right when I walked into the house of ambassadors, my thoughts changed dramatically. Everyone was so welcoming and easy to talk to. It was like we had known each other forever! I was so excited to share this new experience with these ladies to learn more and even teach some! The first day we went to the “Civilization Crag” which was filled with a bunch of easier routes. I warmed up on a 5.8 and then went straight onto a 5.10 and flashed it! Everyone seemed very impressed, but since I mostly boulder, I was a little unfamiliar with the grades so I wasn’t sure how I was doing. While we were all climbing, one of the LCC ambassadors, Cat Mazo, kept talking about lead falling. Everyone was a little scared to take a lead fall especially the ladies who had never done it before. Cat was saying how important it is to try and get used to it, but personally, fear of falling was the reason I tried to flash every route… I did NOT want to fall! So, even when I wanted to quit or I thought I couldn’t make it, I pushed through and kept climbing. Everyone crushed all the routes we attempted that day and even conquered some fears along the way. On the second day, we went to the “Panty Wall Crag”. It was packed with climbers of various experience. This wall was my favorite because it had so many awesome crimpy and slab routes (my fav @Rockoutclimbing)! My last climb of the day was top roping an 11a which felt like the hardest thing ever. Once I topped that route, I felt so accomplished. By the end of this trip, all the ambassadors became super close and knew we had all met for a reason. The encouragement from these ladies, made this trip the best climbing trip I’ve been on! I am stoked to lead some more trips like this and empower more women as we dominate this male dominant sport!
Summer B. Allen