Kate
I like sports, swimming, running, but it’s climbing that’s shaped my life.
Climbing is, I reckon, one of the ultimate forms of play. I didn’t start climbing until I was 16 and did a course at the YMCA, but my mum said I was always climbing trees. When I was younger, it was more about storytelling and reading lots of books.
When I left school I went to Australia for like eight months, and in that time I slept in a bed twice, I think, living out of a car and camping and climbing everywhere. I came back for a few months to save up enough money. Then I went to the States to climb there, I met some other girl climbers and traveled around the States for a bit. They were like, ‘oh, you should come and live with us in the UK’.
This little town of Sheffield, had the most climbers per capita than anywhere in the world. So again, I went home, made enough money to go to the UK. I think I had 100 pounds or something. I went straight to the Edinburgh Fringe, just tried to make a bit of money, and then ended up living in Sheffield. And it was always about just working in climbing shops or gyms just to make enough money to survive.
When I came back home, I was canyon guiding, and I was climbing guiding, and then was like, ‘What am I going to do with my life?’. I went back to Australia, and that’s when I met all these people in the climbing community in Natimuk, a town of 500 people.
There were three companies that were touring internationally, creating huge bamboo sculptures, European street festivals, doing amazing protection work and aerial performances. So then I was developing or building these bamboo structures, doing rope access work, and then I started running the festival!
Running that festival out there – because it was quite a diverse community – it just connected so many people. And you could just see the joy. It’s funny, because I like to be on my own a lot, I love to be in the hills or the mountains, in the ocean, but I totally get a buzz about building community and connecting people.
My friend sent me a link to ‘Feminist Clown Posse’. She was like, ‘Hey, this is happening in Lyttleton, did you want to come?’ I went along, and it was a very loud room full of women. We had to get up on stage and send love to the audience. Terrifying.
I told another friend. She came along, and the two of us really clicked, so we’ve stuck with it, and It’s just people playing, just f**king around and trying shit and being real vulnerable. Oh my God, it just makes my heart so full!
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