Tag: Bouldering

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Enormocast 219: Genevive Walker – Holding Fast to the Dream

Photos: D. Scott Clark, D. Scott Clark, Andrew English

On Episode 219 of the Enormocast, I connect online with Genevive Walker. Genevive is living the “dream” on the road full time. In the last year, she’s taken some offers for sponsorship and is now trying to reconcile the life of a public figure and “pro” with the realities of living hand-to-mouth in a van as a dirtbag climber. Add the need to be active in the community as a Black woman climber, someone recovering from disordered eating, and an athlete, Genevive is not sure she can do it all. However, she’s threatening to be a threat as a mentor, guide, and spokesperson, just give her a minute to find and eradicate the poop smell in her van and she WILL change the world.

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Enormocast 217: Michaela Kiersch – Life’s Greater Needs

Photos: Simon Carter, Kiersch Collection, Brennan Robinson

On Episode 217 of the Enormocast, I connect after some internet trouble with the indomitable Michaela Kiersch. Michaela grew up a Chicago girl – loving baseball and the White Sox- but when she found the climbing gym, her baseball goals were supplanted. The climbing community embraced Michaela at just the right time as her mother’s long battle with cancer ended in her death when Michaela was just a girl. Michaela cites the embrace of her climbing community in Chicago as a major help in her grief. Michaela’s mother lived long enough to instill Michaela with ambition and drive that brought her to the top of competition and sport climbing with national championships and multiple 5.14c ascents. Those same traits are seeing her through a PhD program in occupational therapy. Truly someone who sees more to life than climbing, Michaela may just have the energy to have it all.

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Episode 204: Favia Dubyk – Upon the Mortal Side.

On Episode 204, I connect across state lines with climber, doctor, athlete, ninja, cancer survivor, and last but not least, president of the Southern Maryland Youth Foreign Film and Cuisine Club, Favia Dubyk. Favia grew up “below the Mason-Dixon line” but ended up attending Harvard and Columbia and ended up living in Cleveland and now New Mexico. Finding climbing along the way, Favia now fancies herself a “roof boulderer” that dabbles in sport climbing. Also along the way, Favia was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma at 24 and very nearly lost her life to the disease. With the help of her then boyfriend, now husband, and a host of other friends, family members, and health professionals, Favia returned to a life of normalcy and CLIMBING. Now a pathologist in New Mexico and mom to 5 cats and a dog, Favia lives a life of seemingly unbounded energy and joy and truly lives to climb.

Favia on American Ninja Warrior

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