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Suraj Kushwaha

Suraj Kushwaha

Climbing

Pronouns:

Hometown: Huntington, VT

Current Location: Boulder, CO and Indian Himalaya

Favorite Zone: Eldorado Canyon, CO and Mill Creek, UT

Proudest Achievement: Learning Hindi, writing my thesis, and teaching myself to alpine rock climb at the Elephant's Perch

Favorite Advocacy Org: Access Fund!

Biography

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Growing up in rural Vermont, I found comfort and inspiration in outdoor spaces. While living in India for several years during college, I discovered that I needed to climb. After an Indian mountaineering course in the Garhwal Himalaya, I began a backwards journey through the disciplines of outdoor climbing. I started with steep ice in Vermont, moved to trad in the Gunks, finally embraced sport at Mill Creek, and now I’m discovering the subtleties of bouldering. I do this in search of the connection that climbing brings—between body and mind, between humans and the environment, between myself and other people. I believe that climbing history is much more than stories of first ascents, that climbing ethics runs deeper than whether to bolt on lead or rappel. In engaging and critiquing colonial legacies of climbing across the globe, I aim to re-imagine climbing as a vehicle for connection across difference, for advocacy around environmental justice. This year I will be conducting Fulbright-funded research with porters in India’s central Himalaya to identify stories, aspirations, and trends within the mountain labor ecology. I aspire to climb hard and find ways to use climbing to address environmental, social, and geopolitical issues.

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ATHLETE MENTORSHIP INITATIVE

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The SCARPA Athlete Mentorship Initiative presented by Mountain Hardwear has been created to connect and engage the SCARPA and Mountain Hardwear Athlete teams with accomplished athletes from historically marginalized communities aspiring to take their sport or career to the next level. The mission of this program is to connect mentors with mentees focused on the sports we serve to provide participants with opportunities for personal, athletic and career development with the goal of helping to create a more inclusive and diverse community of athletes.

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Q & A

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  1. How did you get involved with your respective sport?: When I started college after a gap year, I didn't resume any of my high school activities. Instead I found myself going to our unassuming toprope wall 3x per week. Since then it's become more and more important to me.
  2. Who were your influences early in life?: I had some amazing mentors growing up, without whom I would not have found my way. My training in the martial art of Tang Soo Do was particularly formative.
  3. What draws you to the outdoors?: A feeling of smallness, and a connection to the land.
  4. What’s your dream trip or expedition?: An unclimbed technical rock or mixed line on a Himalayan face below 8000 meters.
  5. What makes a good skiing/climbing/running/hiking partner?: Being psyched, open-minded, and able to laugh through the gnarlier bits.
  6. How are you going to pass on what you learn in the SAMI Program to others?: I will share this knowledge with the climbing community in India and continue mentoring folks as much as I can. I also hope to apply this knowledge in my guiding and in my future communities after completing my research in India.