Heather Thorne: Fixed anchors in Wilderness areas, mentorship, and working in the tech industry

The Climbing Advocate

Today’s episode features Access Fund’s new executive director, Heather Thorne. Heather joins Access Fund with nearly 30 years of climbing experience and nearly 15 years after she began climbing, advocacy helped save one of her favorite crags. Coming from a long background working in the tech industry, she aspires to apply a scientific approach and use a high level of creativity for how the organization approaches opportunities and challenges. Heather hit the ground running in her new role. Whether it’s traveling to meet with other advocates or local organizations in Access Fund’s orbit, or getting up to speed with fixed anchors in Wilderness areas, or other aspects of Access Fund’s core programming, she is applying that scientific method to lead the organization forward. 6:09- Heather’s intro 10:20- Athlete to advocate 14:30- Parallels between the tech industry and outdoor advocacy 19:29- Heather's work travels 25:04- Updates on fixed anchors in Wilderness areas 25:25- Minimum Requirements Analysis (MRA) process 35:14- The Mentorship Campaign 44:31- Climber stewards + general outreach and education 50:55- Reflections on the Outdoor Alliance board retreat 54:34- What's next for Access Fund & Heather's vision Heather’s intro: https://www.accessfund.org/latest-news/access-fund-announces-heather-thorne-as-new-executive-director Climber Survey (closes on September 10th, 2024): https://www.accessfund.org/latest-news/take-our-2024-climber-survey Fixed anchors: https://www.accessfund.org/latest-news/whats-next-for-wilderness-climbing Mentorship campaign: https://www.accessfund.org/latest-news/join-us-in-mentoring-responsible-climbers Impact Map: https://www.accessfund.org/impact-map Outdoor Alliance: https://www.outdooralliance.org/