Bringing women climbers together and providing them an opportunity to meet and climb with other women…that’s exactly what the Flash Foxy, Women’s Climbing Festival achieves. This event was established in 2016 to give women the opportunity to meet other passionate female climbers, without feeling intimidated. It provides an amazingly supportive environment for women to gain confidence, skills, and stoke that they can share with their fellow female climbers. A few weeks ago, the fourth, semi-annual festival was held in Bishop, California and SCARPA was so excited to send ambassador, Paris Brown, to the event for her first time!

Over 300 women from across the nation, and even the world, attended the event to take clinics from professionals, climb with old and new friends, attend panel discussions, participate in stewardship projects, and just plain celebrate the amazing women who partake in this sport.

Here are just a few of the activities that Paris attended at the festival…

• The “Women in Climbing” panel - Four diverse panelists shared their experiences and answered questions from the audience. “This was a great way to start the day and to learn more about some of the challenges faced in the climbing community.” Paris Brown.

• An open air market - Outdoor vendors, including SCARPA, allowed participants to check out and try on their latest products. Paris manned the SCARPA booth and used her expertise to help women find their perfect fit. SCARPA demoed the new Arpia, Vapor V, Furia S, Helix, Force V, and Instinct Line.

• The Brown Girls Climb workshop on Self-Advocacy - All of the climbers had the opportunity to attend various workshops and athlete clinics for participants to learn new skills or discuss important topics in the climbing community.

• The No Man’s Land film festival - It took place at night, after a full day of workshops and climbing. “We screened the all-female adventure films from the festival. They were inspiring and visually beautiful!”

• A stewardship project - The Women’s Climbing Festival always wraps up with a stewardship project, that is incredibly well attended. After breakfast, the volunteers were split into large groups, each one being assigned to a different climbing area. Paris went to the Buttermilks and joined the campsite cleanup crew where they picked up trash and cleaned campfire sites.

SCARPA is proud to contribute to such an amazing event and was so excited to send Paris, a first time attendee, to the festival. “The amazing location coupled with a group of extremely unique women created a comfortable and supportive environment, that was truly one of a kind.”