A Climbing Career to Lift Up Women: Countering Sexism, a 42-Day Arctic Expedition, and Building Athena Rock Climbing with Kelly Fields
Description
You can join Trailtober TODAY and still get a chance to win trail shoes, electrolytes, gear patches and more – sign up now! 🍂
The mountains themselves might be unbiased, but the systems we live in are not.
Kelly Fields is a rock climber, certified climbing guide, and owner of Athena Rock Climbing, a nationwide guide service with a specialty in multi-pitch trad climbing and a primarily all female guide staff.
Kelly’s been building a career around climbing since 2004 and took part in a historic Baffin Island expedition with a team of all women in 2025.
Angie and Kelly talk about:
- Why Kelly left college to pursue big-wall climbing
- The sexism she faced (and still faces) as a guide
- How she built Athena Rock Climbing from a desire for ownership and community
- Why women make excellent climbers
- The physical and emotional dynamics of a 42-day all-women expedition in the Canadian Arctic
- Internalized misogyny and how we unknowingly carry it into the outdoors
- Inviting men into conversations about gender equity outdoors
Check out these resources:
Like this episode? Leave a 5-star rating and review on your podcast app!
Make sure you subscribe to the See Her Outside Podcast so you don’t miss a story!
Brought to you by the Alliance for Gender Equity in Outdoor Adventure (GEA Alliance).
Hosted by Angie Marie Lake and edited by Alyson Castonguay.
United States
