Show Notes:

Joann’s Links:

• Ladies Weekend Out (website)
• Golden State Guiding (website)
• Sierra Mountain Center (website)
• The Mountain Guides Red Rock branch
• Joann’s instagram

Episode Intro:

Dear listeners of the Female Guides Requested Podcast,

Happy Wednesday and Merry Christmas! This is your host, Ting Ting, from Las Vegas. Today, our guest is Joann Garbarini, who also goes by Jo. We worked together on a Ladies Weekend Out event back in March 2024, but it wasn’t until months later that I finally got a chance to sit down with her and learn about her stories.

Jo grew up on the East Coast and began climbing in The Shawangunk Mountains as a teenager. She has been hiking and rock climbing for over 20 years all around the United States, Canada, and Europe. Jo spends her time bouncing back and forth between The Eastern Sierra and Red Rock. She loves living and guiding in these places because of the access to climbing. During the warmer months, she loves climbing long alpine routes in the backcountry. As the weather gets colder and snow appears, you can find her climbing in the Owens River Gorge in Bishop or on sandstone in Red Rock.

Joann is a certified Wilderness First Responder, holds an AIARE Avalanche Level 1 certificate, and has been trained by the AMGA as an Apprentice Rock Guide. Jo loves guiding clients and sharing her passion for the outdoors with them.

Jo started her career path as a high school teacher and is now transitioning to holding just two jobs—a realtor and a guide. She has found a great balance between these two professions, which leaves her enough energy and time to stay healthy and enjoy her own climbing.

Things We Talked about:

• Jo’s playgrounds nowadays
• Born and Raised in the East Coast. Got into climbing in high school and was mentored by a good friend’s stepdad
• Moved to CA looking for better weather to play in the mountains
• Stopped climbing for a while due to unfriendly atmosphere at the first gym she went to
• Picked up climbing again due to a supportive Meetup group
• From weekend warriors to living in Bishop
• Teacher, realtor, guide – wearing many hats
• enjoy working with motivated people
• was afraid that guiding full time might lead to burnout
• how to balance between two jobs, injury prevention, personal climbing and logevity
• next step to advance her career
• great experience in her AMGA Rock Guide Course
• challenges and rewards in guiding
• guiding is like running a business

https://femaleguidesrequested.com/podcast/ep-39-genevive-walker-stay-true/

Show Notes:

Genevive’s Links:

• Website
• Instrgram
• Race to Survive Alaska
• Finding Balance Off the Scale

Episode Intro:

Dear listeners of the Female Guides Requested Podcast, happy Wednesday! This is your host, Ting Ting, from Las Vegas. Today, our guest is Genevive Walker. I first learned her name a few years ago when she stirred up a heated discussion on route names. This discussion quickly led to real actions within the climbing community to change inappropriate route names. I was thrilled that, through a mutual friend, I could invite her to talk about her life stories on the show.

Genevive Walker is a professional rock climber, rock climbing guide, and active lifestyle model with a passion for promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the outdoor industry. She began climbing in the Shawangunk Mountains in 2012, sparking her love for steep routes, roofs, and anything that requires kneebar trickery. After seven years in the sport, she started her career as a Single Pitch Instructor (SPI) certified by the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA). Being part of the first all-female SPI cohort in 2018 opened her eyes to the disparities and inequalities within the climbing industry and ignited her mission to build community and offer representation for BIPOC climbers. Genevive is an athlete for Mountain Hardwear, DMM, Sterling Rope, and Gnarly Nutrition. She was also an athlete on Race to Survive: Alaska along with climber Favia Dubyk.

I had so much fun chatting with Genevive. In this episode, you can hear laughter from beginning to end. We talked about how Genevive found climbing and guiding, how her family views her current lifestyle, what kind of guiding excites her the most, and how she manages social media. We also touched on more serious topics such as fear and her battle with disordered eating. Now, please enjoy this delightful conversation with Genevive Walker.

Things We Talked about:

• Before Genevive found climbing
• How does Genevive’s family views her current lifestyle?
• Climbing let Genevive find another way to enjoy life
• Genevive started as a trad climber because that was the only thing available
• When did Genevive have the thought to become a guide?
• Took the first all Women’s SPI course sponsored by the AMGA, Brown Girls Climb, and Flash Foxy
• Keep expectation low and keep surprise herself
• The guiding life
• Love to work with women and climbers of color and that’s the reason she loves guiding
• Gunks, current status
• Route name debate and a movement to change route names
• Identity as a climber, model, and guide
• Excitement led to more work opportunities
• Eating disorder
• Wanting to fit in?
• The social media
• Mentorship with the ProTrack
• Partnership with Favia Dubyk
• Fear Talk

Show Notes:

Related Resources:

• AMGA Single Pitch Instructor Page
• SPI handbook (2024)
• EP 20 – Everything SPI 01 – Professionalism and Risk Management
• EP 29 – Everything SPI 02 – Site Selection & Group Management
• EP 34 – Everything SPI 03 – Current SPI Eval System with Andrew Megas-Russell

Episode Intro:

Dear listeners of the Female Guides Requested Podcast, happy Wednesday! This is your host, Ting Ting, from Las Vegas, and welcome back to another episode of the Everything SPI series. Today, Spencer and I will be discussing the important topic of Teaching and Curriculum Design. Both Spencer and I are thrilled about this episode.

We’ll start by discussing the types of courses that can be taught utilizing single pitch terrain. Then, we’ll dive into our guiding principles, RACK and FIRE. We’ll use a case study to explore the “F” in FIRE, which stands for Formulate, in detail.

Both Spencer and I are AMGA certified Rock Guides and SPI Providers. We co-taught an SPI course back in October 2023 and found that our teaching style was quite compatible and complimentary. Therefore, we decided to do this podcast series, Everything SPI, to create supplemental material related to the SPI programs.

Spencer and I both have deep roots in climbing education. We have over 20 years of field instructing experience and are confident that we can provide valuable insights. We also recognize that the field of climbing instruction is dynamic and we can’t possibly know everything. So, if you have any questions, feedback, please reach out to help us improve. Now please enjoy!

Things We Talked about:

• What can we teach utilizing single pitch terrain?
• Guiding principles – RACK (Risk management, Ask questions, Collect information, Keep it simple)
• FIRE Overview (Formulate, Implement, Reflect, Enhance)
  • Formulate:
    • Who are the students? Define ratio, prerequisites. (Potential trouble here, students’ level are quite different)
    • Course goal, objectives, outcome. Set priority.
    • Structure/visualize the day and write/prepare lesson plans
      1. Progression and regression (make sure we have the flexibility to scale up and scale down)
      2. Divide and conquer, break the whole course into different sessions and classes. Utilize overlaps, so people practice new skills based on the foundations of learned skills. Many times less is more
      3. Hands on practice and mini evaluations – Give students ample opportunities to get hands on. Ask questions to encourage reflection and self-evaluation. Also build in mini evaluation (this will help instructors to know where students are at and when to push to the next phase).
      4. Time management (check back with priority list)
    • Pack/gather gear
      • Client harnesses/helmets/shoes
      • Program ropes (how many??), etc.