Q&A With Ambassadr Maya Madere
Updated: Apr 16, 2021
We are beyond excited to announce our newest Ambassadr, world-renowned climber Maya Madere! Maya hails from Austin, TX and is currently training in Salt Lake City with USA Climbing.
What are your outdoor activities?
Primarily rock climbing! But I also love windsurfing, skiing, wakeboarding, downhill mountain biking, and I have a love-hate relationship with hiking.
How did you get into climbing?
Summer camps at my local gym as a kid.
What’s your proudest climbing moment?
2nd place at youth bouldering worlds 2018!
What’s the piece of gear you’ve owned the longest?
My trusty Petzl harness, which I just replaced yesterday because the hard points look like this:
What’s your favorite memory with it?
A trip to Rifle, CO last fall with my friends, where I did my first 5.13c AND my first 5.13d!
When did you first fall in love with the outdoors?
I’ve loved the outdoors for as long as I can remember. I was lucky enough to grow up in a family that was very active and outdoorsy, and I’ve been skiing, hiking, windsurfing, camping, and exploring with my parents and siblings since before I could walk! I didn’t start rock climbing until later, but the wilderness became my happy place at a very young age.
If you could change something about outdoor culture, what would it be?
I would like to see the climbing and wider outdoor community become more welcoming and accessible to marginalized demographics. There are a lot of financial, cultural, and circumstantial barriers to entry into almost all outdoor sports for anyone who is not rich, white, male, or a combination of the three. Outdoor culture needs more representation across diverse ethnicities, sexual orientations, gender identities, and socioeconomic strata -- for the good of both society at large and the community itself.
All photos courtesy of Maya Madere.