Where did your experience in climbing start?

In the UK, at 13 years old, being guided (dragged) up a sea cliff in the pouring rain and being absolutely terrified! Safe to say that didn’t last long. I was very lucky to have a climbing mentor and quickly learned that Grit was amazing and I was very lucky to then live in some of the best climbing areas in the UK and never stopped exploring.

What first hand experience do you have in the climbing gym world?

I think I’ve worked in all of the areas within the climbing gym ecosystem! Cleaner, Competition Team Coach, USAC National Routesetter, Programs manager & GM. I’ve done everything from building and redeveloping climbing gyms, spent time hanging in the ceilings learning how to solve sprinkler systems in the dark, right through to opening up new community partnerships with orthodox religious groups!

What’s been your proudest moment working in the climbing industry so far?

Seeing the smiles on new community members when they realise that the climbing gym they’ve just joined is their space, their community and the dawning of a realisation that it’s fun to learn a new skill again.

What’s one strong opinion you have about what makes a great climbing gym experience? And how does that belief show up in the way you approach your work at Clava?

It’s all about customer service. If you take a restaurant worker mindset every day in the climbing gym industry and provide the highest level of personal, empathetic and courteous customer service to your work, no matter what which avenue you work in, your customers will have a better experience and want to come back. And that’s how I like to work at Clava, always thinking about the end result of how the customer will benefit from a better service.

What’s a behind-the-scenes detail most climbers never notice—but operators obsess over?

Just how much work goes into running and managing a professional facility, climbing gyms are almost 5 small businesses all running under one roof, and to manage that takes a special team.

Why should a gym trust you (and Clava) with an important part of their operation? Share the principle you work by (e.g., reliability, simplicity, respect for staff time, community-first), plus one proof point: a past achievement, lesson learned, or standard you won’t compromise on.

Experience, Dedication to the climbing gym community and Professionalism. Having dedicated myself to the climbing community I continuously push Clava to progress and develop toward creating the best platform for our climbing gym operators and their community.