On Monday April 11th 2016, SheJumps hosted its first climbing event in Spokane at Wild Walls Gym downtown and we had a great turnout! Over 30 women signed up for our lady’s night of climbing and we took over the gym! The night offered three options for those who wanted to participate: discounted prices for a one-night pass to climb with free gear rental; discounted prices for those who wanted to attend the Vertical Intro class with a free climb after, free gear rental, and a week-long climbing pass (including gear) after the event; or gym members with their own gear participated by giving a donation – thank you regulars for your generosity!
Women of all ages and abilities were welcome and encouraged to come rope climb or boulder with us (we asked that children be age 10 and up). This was a great opportunity to meet other rad lady climbers and to create a bigger climbing community in the Inland Northwest – I think we were successful!
Our fearless leader, instructor, and hardcore Girafficorn – Abbie!
About a dozen ladies attended our intro class, taught by Abbie Salter, employee at Wild Walls and course- trained Single Pitch Instructor, with the help of volunteers and co-workers at the gym. The class included climbing basics such as: tying in, belaying, and movement on the rock – essentially all the things to get you started climbing inside!
While our intro class was progressing upstairs, our more experienced ladies got right to it and started climbing strong!
It was super fun to see all the different climbing personalities come together and forge new friendships.
And all the laughing and smiles were simply infectious! We had such a good time that it flew by!
All attendees received sweet goodie bags, compliments of our friends at Lululemon Athletica Spokane, filled with treats from our national sponsors at Ecolips (organic lip balm) and Munk Packs (gluten free and vegan oatmeal fruit squeezes), as well as Nature’s Bakery Bars and a raffle ticket for our fundraising raffle afterwards! Volunteers received my personal favorite: GEO single pour-over coffee packs from our national sponsor, Little Red Wagon Coffee (relationship coffee based out of Bozeman, MT)!
It was also cool to see a lot of interest from people visiting our SheJumps table and asking questions. Many of them had never heard of SheJumps or Girafficorns before and a lot of our attendees signed up for our event right there on the spot just so they could join the fun!
After our fun night of climbing, ladies were tired and ready for some climbing apres’ so we headed down the street to the Saranac Public House for refreshments and our raffle! Our raffle table was full of rad gift certificates and swag from our generous and long-time local SheJumps supporters at Barre at the Studio, Touch Theory Massage, and 4th Ave Chiropractic!
Who doesn’t want to go and spend $55 at “the Barre” and then get an hour-long massage?And then maybe get some chiropractic work done by the pros at Fourth Avenue Chiropractic?
We also had some new sponsors donate to our raffle: Thank you U-District Physical Therapy for the sweet swag! Thank you Spokane Athleta!!!
And thank you to our good friends at Physical Therapy Associates – love the slogan! (we agree)
It was truly a great night and everyone stayed late afterwards swapping stories and making plans for future adventures. And we had to take care of important tasks once Girafficorn stickers were purchased!
Our special night wouldn’t have been possible without those supporting our mission of getting women together and educated in outdoor pursuits. Thank you to our sponsors from the bottom of my heart for coming through for us, for Wild Walls and the Saranac for hosting us, for our talented and enthusiastic volunteers who instructed and spotted, and for all of you awesome ladies for coming out and making it a night none of us will soon forget. Until next time!
Anna Twohig – Spokane Ambassador
4/21/16
Photo Credits: Taylor Hornney
Big thanks to our sponsors!
