Today we’d like to introduce you to Faith Dickey.
Hi Faith, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Coming from the world of professional athleticism, it took me some time after moving to Moab to discover what I wanted to do. I was transitioning away from high level Highlining, and yet I still wanted the sport to be a part of my life. It dawned on me one day that no one was guiding it, and living in a mecca for guided activities, that seemed silly! I was already a rock climber and an avid outdoor sports person, so getting into the guiding world made total sense. But another thing I noticed was the lack of women in the industry, and so being both a woman owned business and offering a new activity on the market felt special. When I reflected on my career, what stood out was how much I loved sharing my passions and giving back to the community, getting more women involved along the way. After many years of setting world records, I was done pushing my own limits, I wanted to help others get out there and experience all these activities had to offer. Guiding climbing, canyoneering and highlining to a wide range of people, including individuals with disabilities, has been even more rewarding than I anticipated. I get to share the incredible Moab landscape along with the outdoor sports that make it so fun to live in.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Being an outdoor athlete is a lot different than running a business. I had little knowledge of what the inner workings of a company looked like, and found myself facing familiar fears of imposter syndrome and perfectionism. Finding my way has been bumpy at times, and I have messed up more than one spreadsheet, but I have really enjoyed the empowerment that comes with doing things that scare me.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My guiding company Elevate Outdoors offers guided outdoor experiences and instruction in Rock Climbing, Highlining and Canyoneering in Moab, Utah. I operate my business under a philosophy rooted in helping others navigate fear with compassion and kindness, helping them to feel more empowered and capable than before. Being an inclusive business, I create safe spaces for people from all backgrounds and with different abilities to show up and learn how to climb, rappel, or highline. My company is a huge proponent of leave no trace, and I practice the most up to date and safe techniques available. As the first and only Highline guiding business in the nation, I love being able to take people to walk through the sky, climb up a desert tower, or rappel off a beautiful sandstone cliff in Moab!
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Much of my highline career included Free Solo, which is walking the highline with no harness or tether to catch me in case of a fall. This is undoubtedly a risk, however for me it was a controlled risk with a specific pursuit. I wanted to understand how fear was holding me back, and whether the voice in my head telling me not to do it was fear, or intuition. As I grew older, I found myself less and less interested in risk, though admittedly my comfort with risk is so far beyond the average person that it may appear I still take risks all the time! In some ways, I learned enough about that voice in my head that I no longer feel the need to get close to death in order to be stronger than it. On the other hand, much of what I learned was in the pursuit of risky activities. It was a risk to start my business, and yet the risk feels far less dire when it is only finances at stake, and not my literal life. I think, overall, that some risk is important in order to feel alive, and also to find out what we are made of, and to be stronger than the voice of doubt in our minds. Risk doesn’t have to be death defying, in fact it varies greatly person to person. It might be as simple as speaking to a stranger at a party, quitting a job you hate, or visiting a foreign country alone. For me, risk was walking a highline thousands of feet in the air without a leash, whereas now risk is simply waking up everyday believing in my ability to run a company without a degree or a background in business. No matter what, there is something to be learned.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.elevateoutdoorsguiding.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/elevateoutdoors and instagram.com/thefaithdickey
- Facebook: facebook.com/elevateoutdoorsguiding
Image Credits
Elevate Outdoors Archive
