Try-Hard Faces from the Women’s Climbing Festival
Behold: the faces of triumph
March 22 marked the first day of the fourth annual Women’s Climbing Festival in Bishop, California. The 300-woman gathering features panels of women having important discussions about topics like intersectionality, racism, and, privilege. Expert-led workshops and clinics teach participants various climbing techniques. At its core, the WCF is about women climbing with other women, which meant that everywhere around us were women grimacing and muscling their ways up bouldering problems. Here are the best try-hard faces of the WCF.
Photo: Summer Winston, a graphic designer and professor in California, climbs at the Happy Boulders. WCF participants thought the original problem’s name, “Up Her Skirt,” (V2) was outdated, so we decided to call it “Up Yours, Misogyny” instead.
Katherine Vanderford, a climber based out of Chattanooga, Tennessee, summons the energy to stick a big move on Bleached Bones (V3/4) in the Happys.
Laura Catherine Edmondson, climber and leader for Brown Girls Climb, on a gritty crimp in the same bouldering area.
Artist and climber Ash Williford goes full extension on the Girlfriend Boulder.
Gabriella Clark came from Australia by way of Canada to attend her first WCF. Here, she climbs at the Happys.
Erynne M. Gilpin, founder of Indigenous Womxn Climb, channels laser focus on a problem.
Climber and producer Abbey Smith on the unforgiving crimps of Junior’s Achievement (V8) in the Buttermilks.