Show Notes:

Paloma’s Links:

• Paloma Farkas (website)
• Paloma’s instagram

Episode Intro:

Dear guests of the Female Guides Requested Podcast, happy Wednesday. This is your host Ting Ting from Las Vegas. Our guest today is Paloma Farkas from Bishop California. Paloma is only 25 years old, but she already has 6 years of guiding under her belt. Right after she graduated from high school, her parents gifted her a NOLS backcountry rock course at the Wind River Range. Paloma then listened to the callings of mountains and followed her heart towards alpine rock climbing and started her guiding career.

Paloma grew up in Seattle, Washington where she discovered her passion for the mountains through family backpacking and climbing trips in the Cascades. In 2017 she traveled to South America and fell in love with the granite towers of Patagonia. Since then she has split her time between Patagonia, Chile and the US. Paloma spends as much time as possible climbing and some of her favorite areas are Patagonia, the Peruvian Andes, the Cascades, Indian Creek, the Wind River Range, and the High Sierras. Her favorite type of climbing is big wall alpine climbing, but Paloma also enjoys single pitch trad and sport climbing, bouldering and ice climbing. When Paloma isn’t pursuing her own climbing goals, she finds fulfillment in sharing her passion with others and teaching the skills necessary to be self-sufficient in the mountains. She is currently an AMGA Rock Guide, Apprentice Alpine Guide, Wilderness First Responder, AIARE Avalanche Pro 1, and Leave No Trace Trainer.

I admire Paloma’s attitude of going for it when she knows what she wants. She works hard and remains optimistic. We had so much laughter during our conversation and I know you’ll laugh with us too when you listen to this episode.

Things We Talked about:

• Cross Country Running was already there
• Family’s influence – climbing wall at home, backpacking and climbing trips in the Cascades
• NOLS backcountry rock course changed Paloma’s life path
• The year of 2016
• Wanting to head out of the country, and wanting to go to the mountains
• A powerful conversation between father and daughter
• Why Patagonia?
• From dirtbagging to hiking guide to weekend warrior
• 2020 now what?
• After AMGA Rock Guide Course, Paloma started technical rock guiding in Bishop
• Comparing the work environment between the US and Chile from a female guide’s perspective
• Paloma’s vision and business ideas – train climbers in the Sierras and bring them to Patagonia
• Does Bishop has enough work year round?
• How to make Bishop guiding career sustainable?
• Favorite type of guiding?
• The so-called “Gap Courses”

Show Notes:

Taylor’s Links:

• Tangent Climbing website: tangentclimbing.com
• Taylor’s IG: @tay_frag
• Tangent’s IG: @tangent_climbing

Episode Intro:

Dear listeners of the Female Guides Requested Podcast, happy Wednesday and welcome back to another great episode. This is your host Ting Ting from Las Vegas and our guest today is Taylor Fragomeni.

Taylor started climbing in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate NY in May of 2011 and moved to SW Montana shortly after. She has 12 years of competitive and commercial routesetting experience and a decade of instructing/guiding/coaching experience. Taylor often works with coaches, routesetters, and guides to streamline their training plans to balance the physical demands of work and play that allows sustainable long term progress. Her coaching style is highly collaborative. She sees herself as a supporter and educator who empowers each individual to become an expert on their own athletic journey.

Taylor was my movement coach and helped me to write my own training plans. It is always fun to chat about climbing with Taylor. In this episode we focused on principles of how to train for your climbing goal while you have a physical demanding job. We also talked about how to help intermediate climbers get better with their movements and keep climbing fun. People who are interested in Taylor’s service can visit her business website: Tangent Climbing or get in contact with her via social media. Links to those resources are in the “Taylor’s Links” in Show Notes.

Things We Talked about:

• Help people to train when they have physically demanding jobs
• Being flexible and how
• Prioritize rest and make high quality sessions
• Listen to your brain but sometimes not listen to your brain
• At the end of the day, it’s a giant experiment on yourself
• Find the minimum effective dose
• It’s okay to have fluctuations
• Patience, patience, patience
• Goal setting
• Load management
• Grade of a route and its RIC scale
• Take notes and keep a journal
• Make small changes to build solid foundation
• Movement coaching
• How to transfer indoor gain to outdoor
• What does Taylor do?

EP 35 – Kristin Arnold & Sheldon Kerr – Break Down Barriers – Female Guides Requested Podcast

Kristin’s & Sheldon’s Links:

• Moxie Website: https://www.moxiemountainguides.com/
• The indigenous organization Moxie supports in SW CO: https://store.southernute-nsn.gov/product-category/bgcsu/
• All In Ice Fest: https://allinicefest.com/
• DEI trainings Kristin and Sheldon have completed and activists from the community that have helped to support their learning: Check Your Privilege: https://www.checkyourprivilege.co/store & Habit Queer: https://www.habitqueer.com/about-me
• These Colorado Women Are Reframing What It Means to Be a Mountain Guide – 5280
• The Woman Who Is Pushing for Gender Equality in the Guiding World – Powder

Episode Intro:

Dear listeners of the Female Guides Requested Podcast. Happy Wednesday. This is your host Ting Ting from Las Vegas. Today we have two guests, Kristin Arnold and Sheldon Kerr, founders of Moxie Mountain Guides. I was super excited to finally pinned them down from their busy schedule to have this conversation. When I edited this episode, I paused multiple times to reflect and ask myself questions. What is a guide? What is a good guide? What are the so-called soft skills and how do they play a role in risk management? I learned so much from them and I’m so happy that they started Moxie.

Both Kristin and Sheldon are IFMGA mountain guides. IFMGA stands for International Federation of Mountain Guides Association, and their certification is the highest credential attainable by a professional mountain guide. As of spring 2024, they are 2 of 17 total women IFMGA in the US. Together they created Moxie Mountain Guides to align the profession of guiding with their values. Let me share a quote from their website “We guide for good. We believe representation matters. We want the mountain to be inclusive space for women, non-binary and trans-identifying backcountry athletes – no matter your body type, race, or gender.” Moxie strives to break down the social and financial barriers to accessing high-end technical instruction.

Kristin and Sheldon are also AMGA Instructor Team members. They teach AMGA mountain guide programs, including women’s Rock Guide course. I heard encouraging stories from their students and was curious to learn more about their philosophy and approach. In this episode we had a deep dive into what affinity space does, why inclusion is a fundamental component of risk management, how we should advocate equality and justice, and what professionalism means to guides. You will recognize their voices very quickly when you start listening, but to give you a head start. The first person talked was Kristin.

Without further ado, let’s go and enjoy the Moxie ride!