At ACF, We Send It, We Own It
Shane Farver has been coming to ACF since 2022. Here’s how he feels about it.
Shane, belayed by Katy, starts up a route at the RRG.
This event. This community. It’s ours. Truly ours.
As we celebrated the marriage of Shamus and Olivia, two adaptive climbers who met at Adaptive Climbers Fest the year before, I felt those sentiments deeply.
The thing about community is that it has to occur organically. No one can create our climbing community for us. An event is an event, but a community is something different. We must take ownership of our community and, at Adaptive Climbers Fest, we do.
For instance:
Seinada, a visually impaired woman, teaches anchor cleaning at ACF
Nat Vorel, a spinal cord injury survivor and medal-winning paraclimber who recently earned the American Mountain Guide Association’s Single Pitch Instructor certification, led a backcountry clinic at the Pendergrass-Murray Recreational Preserve. Tanner Jones, an amputee and guide who also has SPI certification, led the rappelling clinic. Trevor Hahn, a blind climber who recently completed his first trad lead, ran the visual impairment clinic. Ben Mayforth, a medal-winning paraclimber and coaching consultant who has spina bifida, led the mindfulness clinic.
Miranda, a woman with a spinal cord injury, belays a climber
I hope you see the beautiful pattern here. This is just a sample of the big hand (or stump) that we adaptive climbers played in our own learning, our own climbing, our own celebrations and our own destiny. We bring both a lived experience and knowledge of the sport that cannot be replicated in just any adaptive gathering, by just anybody. Oh yes, we have indispensable allies. Where would we be without Safety Sam, or Zane, or Kristina and her obsession over the details, or Brian and his obsession over the proper number of pizzas? What if we didn’t know Dave Egan? However, without our own knowledge and our own contributions, this event would fade nevertheless.
ACF is the nucleus of our community. As soon as it’s over, I start counting down to the next year. I attend many adaptive rock and ice events throughout the year, and I love a great deal of them. What is it, though, that makes us so intensely crave the Red? Yes, the overwhelming amount of climbing, stunning foliage, excellent accommodations at Lago Linda and rager afterparties don’t hurt. I would argue, though, that it is the spirit of ownership we have in this.
For a few shining days, we really are in this together. The success or failure of ACF is just as much on us as it is on our excellent cook staff, our volunteers and our organizers — able-bodied and disabled alike. We bring our agency and our attitude, and we can show each other, and the world, that we have a leadership role to play in our own climbing community.
The wonderful thing about spirit is that we can carry it with us, and exercise its power, all throughout the year. If we can embody that spirit of owning our destiny, showing up and taking charge over the next year, we’ll carry an even brighter light into ACF 2024 and beyond.
