Welcome to She Sends Collective
She Sends Collective fosters space for femininity in a sport dominated by the masculine by way of access, education, inclusivity and community. It is our goal to help women + gender queer folks ‘send’ whatever they set their intentions on, climbing related or not. We view you first as a human, second as a climber.
With this in mind, you can expect to find workshops centered around nutrition, self-love and mindfulness in addition to our climbing-centered offerings. We believe that if we have a stronger relationship with ourselves, food, and our minds then we will perform better on the wall, decrease our risk for injury and therefore extend our longevity within this special sport.
We recognize that there are financial barriers to accessing quality outdoor climbing education, various experiences climbing and supporting our hobby at the most basic level. This is why you will notice that we offer both our outdoor educational clinics and overnight trips on a sliding scale. We also offer full and partial scholarships for many of our programs, thanks to our sponsors.
Currently, our outdoor educational clinics and overnight trips are reserved for women and gender queer humans. However, we work with everybody if you are looking for a day of guided climbing and private instruction!!
My name is Chelsea.
I started climbing in 1998 as a little girl with blonde pigtails and a big cheesy smile on my face. I fell in love with climbing immediately, and it remains my truest “love at first sight” experience.
I participated (and won) my first climbing competition within a month of being introduced to the sport and continued competing until 2014. During that time I was crowned National Champion, stood on both National and International podiums, and spent 10+ years as a member of the US National Team, where I competed abroad representing the US on the World stage. Eventually, I retired from competing to explore my potential on rock, focus on coaching more and experience other facets of climbing.
While competition was my main focus as a kid, I still made time to explore the outdoors. My first big wall experiences were at ages 15 and 16 when I made a 34 hour ascent of The Nose of El Cap and a 24 hour ascent of the Direct NW Face of Half Dome with Hans Florine. This experience truly ignited my passion for adventure.
I’m a boulderer and sport climber at heart. There’s something special about trying hard, having the curiosity to unlock beta, and ‘swimming’ in flow state. I excel at onsight climbing (doing things on the first go without beta) and some of my notable onsights include The Madness (5.13c) in Red River Gorge, KY; Encore (5.13c) in Ceuse, France; Pushin’ Up Daisies (5.13c) in Red River Gorge, KY; and Sex After Death (V8) in Hueco Tanks, TX.
I began to venture into projecting in 2014 and accomplished First Female Ascents of two 5.14a’s (Double Rainbow in Rifle, CO, and Kinky Reggae in Clear Creek Canyon, CO). My hardest redpoints to date are Waka Flocka (5.14b) in Rifle, CO, Running Scared (V11) and Stanley Kubrick (V11) in Rocky Mountain National Park and Clear Creek Canyon respectively.
I actually began coaching in 2004, fresh outta highschool. My first coaching gig was a head coach position of a youth team in Atlanta, GA. This is where my passion for helping others along their climbing journeys began. After a couple of years, I moved to Boulder, CO, where I eventually became the Head Coach of Movement Climbing + Fitness’s youth climbing team after coaching them for 6 months under the tutelage of Justen Sjong. During my time at Movement, I became the first female US Team Coach and held this role for 4 years before deciding to focus on coaching women in 2014.
It was at this time that I started traveling the country to teach at various outdoor festivals (AAC’s Craggin’ Classics, Flash Foxy, and the International Climbers Fest) and gyms across the country to coach women-only technique and strength training clinics. I loved what I was doing, but I knew I wanted to do more – specifically to hold space for the community and strengthen it by educating women to become self-sufficient and empowered along their climbing journeys.
Meet The Team
Laurel first climbed outdoors in college and rediscovered her love for sport climbing after moving to Colorado in 2013. With a background in ecology and trauma-informed yoga, Laurel is working on her Master’s in Mental Health Counseling and is passionate about exploring the intersection of mental health and climbing.
She works with SSC because she believes in creating safe, accessible spaces for new climbers to learn outdoor skills and make meaningful connections.
