Show Notes:

Mercedes’s Links:

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MercedesPollmeier
• Website: https://www.modusathletica.com/
• Modus Cafe Podcast: https://www.modusathletica.com/podcasts/modus-cafe-conversations-beyond-climbing
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/modusathletica/
• Simple Strength book: https://amzn.to/3LppunK
• Peak Nutrition Book: https://amzn.to/3zJIWch

Episode Intro:

Dear listeners of the Female Guides Requested Podcast. Happy Wednesday and welcome to another fantastic episode. I’m your host Ting Ting from Las Vegas and today’s guest is Mercedes Pollmeier. I got in contact with her because we’re both connected to the organization Climbers of Color. She offers classes to teach people on how to boulder outside safely and also helps them with their performance goals.

Mercedes is a seasoned climbing coach and founder of Modus Athletica. She has a Master’s Degree in Human Movement and Sports Conditioning and holds certifications in NSCA strength and conditioning, Precision Nutrition, and GMB training. She is also a former semi-pro tennis player and competition climber.

Her approach to coaching is grounded in experience and fueled by a commitment to fostering a vibrant community culture within Modus Athletica. She believes that climbing is more than just a physical challenge; it’s an enriching journey that reveals our true potential, thus she offers a holistic approach to climbing training that prioritizes longevity, health, and personal growth.

I had so much fun interviewing Mercedes. I got to ask many questions about guiding bouldering and explored many aspects on learning and teaching movements. I even got to ask some self-serving questions about how to train when my guiding schedule gets crazily packed. Mercedes really cares about what she does and invests deeply in things she is passionate about. If you are a climber who is looking to enhance your performance while nurturing your well-being, check out Modus Athletica. Now please enjoy this episode with Mercedes!

Things We Talked about:

• What is like guiding bouldering outside?
• Mercedes Bouldering I & II curricula – safety, warm-ups, climbing, ethics, resting, project tactics, video reviews
• Coaching movements online?
• Some common issues – foot precision, extension, rotate, dynamic movements
• Being intentional is important
• Give people a path to self correct
• Big categories such as do they trust their positions? Their mindsets
• How to manage frustration
• Bridge inside climbing and outside climbing
• Rethink grading
• Movement is movement, think about global movements
• Learn a variety of movements help problem solving outside
• At the end of the day, ask “do you like to climb?”
• Outside climbing tends to be more static and controlled since the risk is higher
• What do outside and inside climbing share in common?
• And More...

https://femaleguidesrequested.com/podcast/ep-31-sof-petros-question-the-establishments/

Show Notes:

Sof’s Links:

• Sof Petros on Instagram
• Climbers of Color

Episode Intro:

Dear listeners of the Female Guides Requested Podcast, happy Wednesday. This is your host Ting Ting from Las Vegas. Today we have a young and inspiring guest whose name is Sof Petros. I got to know her a little last summer when I taught an SPI course for the Climbers of Color. She was the assistant Rock Director of the organization and helped me with many tasks. She was thorough, an excellent communicator and her emails were always filled with loads of positive energy and humor.

Sof is an AMGA SPI and a PSIA AASI Certified Alpine Ski instructor. She does rock guiding with Climbers of Color in Washington, Out in the Wild in Oregon, and Flash Foxy in California and teaches skiing in Stevens Pass Washington. She does admirable work in affinity space providing safe and supportive learning environments. To quote her words, she is “amped to join and lead affinity programming that not only brings communities together, but also challenges and questions systems and values of supremacy, domination, and oppression that manifest in climbing spaces, even ‘diverse ones.'”

In this episode, she recalled that her family always liked to play outside. Even though the activities they chose were not “technical recreation,” the sense of connection to nature and the land was very impactful. We of course talked much about affinity programs. Sof shared valuable insights on how we could make the environment more inclusive, which would also help guides manage risks and provide better student experience.

Beyond climbing and skiing, Sof can be found baking lots of bread, crying over just about every dog she sees, making jewelry, taking outdoor naps, eating really good pickles and hot sauces, and trying to make craft cocktails on her truck tailgate. Now let’s dive into this lighthearted yet serious conversation with Sof Petros.

Things We Talked about:

• Sof’s upbringing
• Central park bouldering started her climbing path
• Wearing multiple hats for her career
• Starting guiding in college at Columbia university in New Your City
• In summers guiding long multi-week trips in CO and WY
• What brought Sof to Pacific Northwest
• After college, Sof started a job in Chilean Patagonia and found her love towards ocean
• Why Sof uses the term “technical recreation”?
• How should we define outdoors and outdoorsy?
• How does Sof’s family see her now?
• Camping and backpacking with mom; skiing and climbing with little brother
• Working with and in affinity spaces
• What are the social and emotional risk factors?
• Feedback she got from non-affinity groups after she brought the practices used in affinity space
• Contemplating where she can make the most impact
• How can we make the principals we practice in affinity space more common sense?
• Why is it that hard for changes to happen?
• Sof’s personal experience going through the first BIPOC Guides Development Program hosted by Alpine Ascents
• Inclusive guiding practice
• Is how hard you climb and hard fast you ski important?
• And more…

Show Notes:

Emma’s Links:

• Emma Contaoe on MEC
• Climb Escapes (Website)
• Emma’s Instagram https://www.instagram.com/emmacontaoe/

Episode Intro:

Dear listeners of the Female Guides Requested Podcast. Happy Wednesday. I am your host, Ting Ting. I finally returned from my home country Taiwan and now am delivering this episode in Las Vegas. This episode is about Emma Contaoe, who was highly recommended to me by a listener whose life was impacted by her. I reached out and recorded the beautiful life story of Emma, how she stayed curious and followed her intuition and eventually found she could combine her passions and work into a fulfilling life.

Emma is an avid climber and certified rock climbing instructor in Quebec. She is the founder of Climbing Escapes, where she gives outdoor climbing courses to all types of climbers, as well as offers climbing and yoga retreats. After eight years of teaching, she finds joy and fulfillment through her business by combining her love of climbing instruction and creating a wholesome community.

In this episode, we talked about how she eventually tried rock climbing in Australia, where she found space to strip the constraints of the environment and identity she lived during the first two decades of her life. She then followed this awakening to Nepal and brought all she learned back home in Montreal. Her business was her dream and her mission. To build her business was a slow and steady process. There was fear, imposter syndrome, tears, and grief of her best friend’s passing. She got reaffirmation from classes she taught and from the mutually empowering space she created with other women.

Please enjoy this episode with Emma Contaoe.

Things We Talked about:

• First time climbing, wanted to start at a place where she could be anyone
• Constraints from the native environment
• Transition from “not for me” to fully “embracing the outdoors”
• Start the business not focusing on “nobody like me had done something similar before” but on doing what she loved
• Always following what she is curious about then built the intuition of what felt right
• Solo travel – a 4-year journey
• An encounter with “3-sister guiding services” in Nepal
• Finding a purpose during the repetitive traveling of seeing different places
• Hands on with charity work from building a shelter in after-quake Nepal to finding volunteers for a school project
• Reflection on what’s for her and what’s sustainable
• Early days of Climbing Escapes
• Mission statement of her dream business
• What does the word “retreat” mean to Emma
• Any structure to facilitate the so-called “down time” between climbing and yoga? Or just let the magic happen?
• Proudest moments
• Want the audience to take away
• And more…