Biography

Hello! I am a paraclimber currently based out of Boulder, Colorado. I started climbing fourteen years ago at the suggestion of a friend after I got kicked out of gymnastics for being too tall. I competed on the USA Climbing and IFSC circuit for eleven consecutive seasons before my condition, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, worsened to the point of having to retire. This left me completely gutted as I was pursuing the 2024 Paris Olympic Games as a speed specialist; but I was able to stumble into competition (and outdoor) ice climbing and dry tooling in 2022 and I have been in love since then! I’ve been lucky enough to qualify for the US Ice Climbing Team twice in a row, and am currently the only paraclimber on the UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup tour because we don’t have para categories (yet). I am also the only Hard of Hearing athlete on the competition circuit as well. This means the world to me as I hope to show that adaptive athletes are capable of succeeding in ice climbing, and spread a greater awareness of what it means to have an invisible, yet dynamic, disability. Though losing my entire career as a speed athlete completely shattered me, it’s also shown that I’m capable of much more than I thought by picking up the pieces and finding another way to continue climbing at a high level. Moral of the story? JUST KEEP GOING!

ATHLETE MENTORSHIP INITATIVE