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moab: women's climbing clinic

KAVU athlete, Steph Davis shares her joy, knowledge and passion for climbing.....and a lot of laughs, with an amazing group

By KAVU

June 5^th, 2018

for the love of climbing

I started doing my Indian Creek Clinics in 2012. They're for all climbers who want to learn more about pure crack climbing and multi-pitch techniques, and have a great time in the desert for a few days.

People started asking me if the clinics were women only, or if I had thought about that.

I really hadn't.... we usually get about half women and half men at the clinic, often some couples, and I certainly never want to exclude any climbers!

but...

.....people asked enough that I decided to try out adding another, totally different, clinic as a "women's only" option and, just see what happened. There ended up being a strong interest in both clinics so, it made it a fun and easy decision to offer them both! I looked at it as an opportunity to connect with more awesome people in a place I love to call home!

piles of smiles

The great thing about the Moab Women's Clinic is that it's completely based on what people were asking for, and it has turned out to be an awesome addition to the Indian Creek Clinic, which is still for all climbers - men and women.

go with the flow

A funny change that just happened due to sun schedule (a big deal when organizing the climbing portions here since the conditions are so extreme), was that I switched the group intros to lunchtime after the first morning of climbing.

People knew each other a little already, and we were treated to some truly phenomenal life stories from this group, everything from a Peace Corp Officer, to a woman who left a soul-sucking Starbucks career to become an animal rights activist and yoga instructor, to a woman who followed a well known rock band as a groupie for 7 years until she ended up marrying the drummer, having 2 kids and becoming an engineer, to a crossfit coach who travels the world competing and training people!

Both clinics are always different every time, because we base what we do on what the group wants to do. Gear, taping techniques, efficient movement and safety.... we try to learn as much as we can relative to what everyone wants to experience, try and practice.

Generally, with the Women's Clinic we have a pretty even split of people who are fairly new climbers looking to transition outdoors from indoors, and people who have a lot of outdoor climbing experience.

And, we're extra lucky to be able to share time with our dog friends who wear themselves out each day supervising;-)

sharing time

On the first night of the clinic, when typically everyone splits up for dinner, I invited the group to a new local community space called the Helipad. It's a beautiful spot owned by a friend of mine: you can bring pets and your own beverages, and she also has a vegan food truck called the Moab Kitchen. Everyone loved the Sri Lankan curry from the truck and getting the insider beta to have an awesome locals experience together.

I've found that no matter what people's past experience may be, everyone wants to learn a lot about fundamentals of safety as well as the little tricks and tips for efficiency that can take years to learn on your own.

One of my very favorite parts of the Women's Clinic and the Indian Creek clinic is all the time we spend together as a group

We've stepped up the infrastructure for the Indian Creek clinic camping portion at my land, thanks to Backcountry who provided us with a new Camp Chef stove and outdoor pizza oven. We also built an outdoor kitchen and a sink with gravity fed water, and brought in 4 truckloads of bonfire wood.

lots to learn

We mix in instruction and coaching on rope-work, knots, rappelling and anchors with lots of climbing--ranging from face climbing to crack climbing.

kavu days

We always have truly amazing people at these clinics..... and generally everyone leaves with new climbing partners and a lot of new friends.

I love how contagious the smiles are!

Steph Davis

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Footnotes

Steph Davis is not just a world class climber, writer, speaker. She's a world class human and we are so happy she's in the KAVU family! Follow her smile worldwide!!

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FootNotes

Steph Davis is not just a world class climber, writer, speaker. She's a world class human and we are so happy she's in the KAVU family! Follow her smile worldwide!!

Havasupai 2025

moab: women's climbing clinic

KAVU athlete, Steph Davis shares her joy, knowledge and passion for climbing.....and a lot of laughs, with an amazing group

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