Female rock climbers from around the globe, including Lompoc resident Courtney Tuskan, gathered at Owen’s River Gorge in Bishop, Calif., for the 2017 Flash Foxy Women’s Climbing Festival.
“During those three days, I met and camped out with some amazing women from all over the world,” Tuskan told the Sun. “The climbing community are generally some of the kindest and most helpful people I’ve ever met.”
Tuskan, 26, participated in the weekend-long event, which was open exclusively to women and anyone who identifies as female.
“Climbing is teaching me to love my body and appreciate it for all its strength and endurance,” Tuskan said. “I never did sports growing up. I was kind of a lazy, self-conscious kid. I never thought of myself as athletic or strong until I found climbing.”
Traveling to Bishop from Lompoc for the festival was a trek, but Tuskan has become accustomed to journeying far for climbing and bouldering, like to Joshua Tree National Park for example. Destinations closer to home that Tuskan frequents include Lizards Mouth Rock in Santa Barbara and Bishop Peak in San Luis Obispo.
“I first got into climbing because I wanted something different,” Tuskan said. “The first few times I climbed, it felt like play, like I was a kid on the jungle gym again. The movement feels so natural.”
Tuskan started climbing at The Pad Climbing Gym in Santa Maria. She was nervous, not just about climbing for the first time but about meeting new people, she said.
“I would go to The Pad mainly during off hours in the beginning because I was really shy,” she said. “I slowly started to meet some of the regulars, some who would later become my close friends. Everyone was so kind, generous, and encouraging.”
Climbing indoors at the gym led her to climbing outdoors. Although she loves going to The Pad, nothing compares to climbing real rocks, she said.
Tuskan will transfer from Allan Hancock College to Cal Poly in the fall as a Wildlife Biology major. On the day of her last final at Hancock, Tuskan couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than by going to Bishop Peak that evening, where she easily sees herself climbing more often in the future while at Poly.
Whether it’s bouldering the side of a mountain or climbing at the gym, Tuskan firmly believes in the “buddy system” and rarely climbs alone, she said.
“Climbing outdoors alone is too dangerous. You always want to have a partner,” she said. “Sometimes I’ll climb in the gym alone. But it’s best to at least have one other person there for you in case something happens.”
This article appears in Jul 20-27, 2017.