SCARPA • CLINIC INSTRUCTOR

Nikki Smith is a climber with more than 30 years of experience and has been working in the outdoor industry and climbing world since 1998. Her photography has been featured in many outdoor publications, and she is a National Geographic Adventure photo contributor. She’s authored five climbing guidebooks to date and has written many feature articles for major climbing magazines including Rock and Ice, Alpinist, Deadpoint, and Urban Climber. She has completed over 200 roped first ascents of sport, trad, mixed and ice climbs from 30’ to 1,600’ throughout Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho, and has traveled the world to climb. Nikki is an advocate for the outdoors and is a part of the Protect Our Winters Athlete Alliance. Nikki is also an illustrator and painter.

TOUCHSTONE • CLINIC INSTRUCTOR

Zoey enjoys the classics: Long walks on the beach, watching the sunset, and heinous 40 meter rope stretching crimp lines. Usually referred to as 'Oh so you're the Zoey who set that climb' by Touchstone members, she loves setting in the style of 'I put my foot... where?!', revolving around flexibly intensive movement or simple, hard crimping. Also, Zoey and her girlfriend enjoy sliding down mountains, and then complaining that climbing doesn't get you in shape for skiing. She's easily found at the local Los Angeles sport crags, or setting for any of the gyms she works for, hosting her monthly Queer Crush meet-up / advocating for the queer climbing community, or most commonly, sitting at her computer, playing video games, and eating fried chicken.

TOUCHSTONE • CLINIC INSTRUCTOR

Ada has been climbing for almost their entire life and loves to share their passion through teaching. After growing up climbing in Northern California, they moved from being a competitive climbing coach, to a guide and have been doing that for the last five years as a single pitch instructor and apprentice rock guide. When they aren't climbing they can be found trail running with their pup or deep in a new knitting project! 

FLASH FOXY EDUCATION • CLINIC INSTRUCTOR

Sean Taft-Morales was born and raised in Washington, DC and has been climbing since age 12. They are the Director of Sportrock Climbing Guides, and have over 15 years of professional climbing instruction and guiding under their belt. They’re also an American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) Rock Guide and an SPI Provider. Sean has been a key part of the AMGA Affinity programs and has taught or assessed all of the LGBTQIA+ Affinity SPI Programs. They also have also volunteered to travel to Afghanistan to teach Ascend: Leadership Through Athletics, a women's climbing group, an SPI instructor course. Together they set some of the first routes in the Panjshir Province.

CLINIC INSTRUCTOR

Genevive Walker has been climbing for about ten years and with the Shawangunks as her original home crag, trad climbing always had a special place in her heart. Over the years, she combined her love of travel with climbing and experienced different varieties of rock, amazing people, and interesting cultures along the way. Her favorite part of traveling is meeting people from all walks of life and sharing the common passion for travel and climbing. She is a single pitch instructor and rock guide apprentice who has been guiding for six years. As much as she loves guiding, teaching is her passion. Any chance Genevive has to share the skills she learned with others in the community, she will with enthusiasm.

PRE-FEST YOGA INSTRUCTOR

Jean “Tucky” has been a dedicated yoga practitioner, rock climber, and alpinist for over 20 years. She teaches an engaging and dynamic Yoga for Climbers class, blending traditional yoga with vinyasa to support movement and recovery. Originally from Kentucky but shaped by the mountains of Colorado, Jean’s passion for crack climbing led her to Yosemite, where she worked with Yosemite Search and Rescue, the Yosemite Mountaineering School, and as a Tuolumne Meadows Interpretive Park Ranger. She has climbed 12 different routes on El Capitan and thrives in the world of multi-pitch trad climbing. Now based in Bishop for the past 15 years, Jean works seasonally as a yoga instructor and a Friends of the Inyo Trail Ambassador. She enjoys all forms of climbing—trad, alpine, sport, and bouldering—continuing to find adventure in the Eastern Sierra and beyond.

OPENING PARTY DJ

Marian May Perez has spent their career in the outdoor industry finding purpose in community and advocacy. Spending 15 years primarily working in the retail and education space, they are now the co-founder and Executive Director of Rise Outside, a non profit guide service outside of New Paltz, NY working towards normalizing diversity in the outdoors. They are an Arc’teryx New York ambassador and Flash Foxy alumni, holding space for other foxy folks to get stoked on climbing and community.

May loves traditional climbing and spending time in different climbing areas, working on breaking norms taking up space at the crag. Catch them throwing down on the dance floor, climbing topless on your favorite moderates, and having deep conversations about life and mental health.

LAND ACKNOWLEDEGMENT

George Brown is a proud member of the Paiute Tribe. He is currently a member of the Bishop Tribal Youth Council and an officer at the Bishop Union High Drama Club. He enjoys doing robotics, playing banjo, and coding.

CLIMBER ETHICS PRESENTATION

Kara Flowers is one of the Bishop Climbing Rangers. She is returning to talk LNT, ethics, and overall good crag vibes for the Bishop area. Kara began climbing in western North Carolina, where she worked in outdoor education leading adventure trips through the beautiful Appalachian Mountains. For the past five years, she has traveled up and down the West Coast climbing as much as possible on beautiful granite, exploring the mysteries of the desert, and meeting inspiring climbers and adventurers. She is passionate about creating a positive and inclusive space within the climbing community, raising and milking dairy animals, foraging for mushrooms and wild medicinal plants, and regenerative farming. She’ll be around all weekend to answer questions about the beautiful land, Payahuunadü, to chat about how to dismantle toxic ideas of self-worth and grade-based climbing. 

LINE DANCING WORKSHOP FACILITATOR

Lyssa Ichikawa is a facilitator, space holder, co-creator, co-conspirator, and consultant. Lyssa's focus is on anti-oppression work that is rooted in healing, learning, and unlearning. With a background in education and 18 years of classroom teaching experience, Lyssa loves supporting all members of a learning community.

They bring this background and history of grassroots, DIY organizing to the Bootleg team as the behind the scenes admin lead (and occasional DJ). Lyssa has been dancing since the age of three and has a BFA in Musical Theater (of course) and a huge love of dance, movement, play, and performance. They are grateful to be a part of the Bootleg team and find deep joy in collaborating, connecting, and sharing resources, power, and love of line dance with the LTBTQAI2S+ community and beyond!

LINE DANCING WORKSHOP FACILITATOR

With over 20 years of experience in education, Abi Hamilton has taught and danced with people of all ages and abilities. They currently serve as a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion consultant, trainer, and facilitator for organizations across the state of California. They bring their passions for community organizing, volunteer coordinating, and enhancing community life to the Bootleg team. Abi discovered their passion for line dancing two decades ago at Oil Can Harry's and has been dancing ever since! They have also been a part of the LA Wranglers, a country-western performance group based in Los Angeles, since 2017. Abi's dancing has been featured in TV shows, commercials, music videos, and live events. Abi is currently teaching at Stud Country, a weekly queer line dance party, at their Los Angeles and San Francisco locations.

Recently, Abi has started choreographing for music videos and other line dance projects. Launching Bootleg is important to Abi because they wanted a line dance space that was specifically for people who look like them in an industry and a city that is primarily straight, white, cisgendered, and skinny bodied.

TEA TALK FACILITATOR • QUEER ECOLOGY OF THE EASTERN SIERRA

Pete Johnson is in love with the plants! A certified California Naturalist working in Eastern Sierra conservation, they enjoy really long walks in the mountains to meet, adore, and protect their small-ranged local wildflower neighbors. They are an advocate for queer and trans athletes in ultrarunning and bikepacking. You'll find them where the Great Basin meets the Mojave Desert meets the Eastern Sierra. 

TEA TALK FACILITATOR • ASL FOR OUTDOORS

Sonya is a teacher, advocate, artist, climber, and a member of the Deaf community where she currently resides in Los Angeles, Ca.  Sonya has always been a wild child of the 70’s,  grew up on the family ranch in Las Vegas with Red Rock Canyon nearby.  Often Sonya and her deaf classmates would escape school to be outside exploring and climbing something. Her curiosity for the outdoors began early on, due to many family adventures locally and road trips visiting many national parks. She attended Azusa Pacific University earning a BA and MA degree. In college, she took classes which focused on outdoor recreational activities such as rock climbing, hiking, mountaineering, where her passion for the outdoors grew.

TEA TALK FACILITATOR • ACRO YOGA

Matt Moy is a Chicago-based climber, guide, youth instructor, yoga & acroyoga teacher and movement-loving activist dedicated to building joyful, inclusive outdoor spaces. They connected with climbing in 2008 while living in Uganda and have been moving, organizing, and advocating ever since. As an Arc'teryx Chicago ambassador, Matt supports community, access, and education efforts through their work leading Queers on the Rocks, Asian Climbing Collective Chicago, and their local AAC chapter while teaching with Chicago Climbs. Whether they’re working with youth, guiding outside, or acro-ing in the park, Matt brings care, connection, some corny jokes, and a fierce commitment to equity into every space - plus top-tier hugs and constant hydration/self-care hype.

PANELIST • SCHOLARSHIP RECIPENTS THEN & NOW

Jess moved from the Midwest in 2019 and was eager to start a new adventure in Ogden, Utah. This included taking an Intro to Climbing class at Weber State University where she fell in love with the sport.

She is now an AMGA SPI certified climbing instructor at WSU and co-created the course Risk, Resilience, and Rock Climbing, a gender studies and climbing course that investigates power and privilege in the climbing world and how to expand the field to be more inclusive, intersectional, and accessible to people from a variety of backgrounds.

Jess also works as an advocate where she supports survivors of interpersonal violence and sexual assault. She guides in Northern Utah through Aspect Adventure and has created trauma-informed climbing spaces where survivors can feel empowered and brave in their bodies. Jess serves as the Ambassador for the Ogden branch of the Ladies Climbing Coalition, an affinity space for women and gender-marginalized climbers.

When she isn't climbing, you can find Jess trail running, hiking with her dog Chika, or pole dancing

GARMENT + GEAR GLOW UP STATION

Elisabeth is a Portland-based fiber artist and loves experimenting with knit wear, crochet, and various mending techniques. In a world of fast fashion, Elisabeth advocates to care for the clothing you already own by mending and adding personality to them. Fashion is an important part of self expression and she believes your favorite pieces can be the ones you wear outdoors. She will be at the Gear Glow-Up Station to share techniques like boro, Sashiko, and darning. She’ll also have her trusty sewing machine in hand for quick clothing alterations! 

Drop by to add some extra life and love to anything your heart desires!

HEAD PHOTOGRAPHER

@catlikeacat

MANAGING DIRECTOR

EVENT ASSISTANT

VOLUNTEER + MEETUP COORDINATOR