The photo was taken in 2019 during Joanne Urioste's FA of a secret route with Maurice Horn, former climbing partner of Layton Kor on many FAs, including the Naked Edge in Eldo.

EP 56
Joanne Urioste
Collages of Rock & Desire

01:34:38

Joanne Urioste is an American rock climber who was inducted into the elite group of Honorary Members of the American Alpine Club which includes 136 climbers worldwide “who have had a lasting and highly significant impact on the advancement of the climbing craft.” In the late 1970s and early 80s, she and her husband, Jorge, established many internationally-recognized long technical climbs in the Red Rocks of Southern Nevada. She was the first woman to publish the first guidebook—ever—to a major climbing area that was previously unknown. She also contributed to pioneering ultra-distance adventure running in the 1990s. She lives with Jorge in Las Vegas, NV, and continues to establish first ascents, even in her seventies.

Show Notes:

Joanne’s Links:

Episode Intro:

Welcome back to the Female Guides Requested. Happy New Year! This is your host Ting Ting from Las Vegas. Today’s guest is a legendary figure whose name is etched into the very sandstone of Red Rock Canyon. Joanne Urioste is a pioneering rock climber, author, and guide who re-imagined what was possible on the towering walls of the American Southwest.

Starting her climbing journey in the early 1970s—a time when female climbers were often sidelined—Joanne sought out the high-risk, death-defying situations that most would avoid to prove her independence and mastery. Alongside her husband Jorge, she established hundreds of first ascents that are now world-renowned classics, including Epinephrine, Crimson Chrysalis, and Levitation 29.

Joanne didn’t just climb; she literally wrote the book on the region, publishing the original Red Rock guidebook in 1984. After a ten-year hiatus to raise her children—a period where she channeled her drive into becoming an elite ultra-runner—she returned to the rock with a renewed passion. Today, we sit down in her home to discuss her ‘renegade’ early days, the evolution of climbing ethics, and why she believes that taking risks is the only way to truly stay alive.

Quotes:

  • On the spirit of climbing: “It doesn’t matter if you are physically disabled or not perfect. If you have the spirit and love of climbing, there are different ways that you can climb.”
  • On her ‘renegade’ beginnings: “We were just absolute renegades, just you know, shooting from the hip. Boom, boom! Let’s do this! Let’s do that!”
  • On the intensity of managing risk: “Calculation, risk assessment was the game… you had very strong consequences if you did not calculate correctly.”
  • On the purpose of pushing limits: “This was not about enjoyment. This was about managing the risk in a way that was where you would survive. Pitting yourself against very strong elements and succeeding.”
  • On the ‘Bolting Police’: “As we started putting up better and better routes that were like amazing, then people started recognizing that… they started having tremendous hatred for us. As a matter of fact, that type of hatred actually pushed us to do more outrageous things.”
  • On climbing as a spiritual act: “I wanted to really put yourself out there so that you would calculate as humbly as you could with nature and lay yourself down… almost as a form of worship to the natural forces.”
  • On the unique wisdom of female climbers: “The groups of men will absolutely plug their ears and not listen to my advice… it’s actually detrimental to the men because they would benefit from the wisdom that they’re not listening to.”
  • On why she continues to seek risk: “Having some risk in everything that I do… just keeps me alive. It expands my humanity. Looking at my weakest points and trying to work on them a little bit… it’s just such a beautiful way to live.”