The Unexpected Spark That Connects Women at the Crag

At Tera Kaia, we designed basewear because we got tired of clothes that didn’t fit right, and didn’t perform on outdoor adventures. What we didn’t realize is that a piece of clothing could be so much more than that.

Rachel, Christina, and a group of outdoor women headed out to Moab. By chance, they connected with a few more women, on an unexpectedly magical climbing trip.

It’s like a re-framing of how we normally interact with—well, everything.

• It’s a reframing of how we interact with other women. Instead of competing against one another we’re cheering other women on.
• It’s a reframing of how we interact with ourselves. Instead of putting internal pressure on ourselves to succeed, we feel relaxed and confident.
• It’s a reframing of how we interact with climbing. Instead of following, we’re leading.

At Tera Kaia we’ve seen that this magic can be sparked by something as simple as one thing female climbers have in common: sports bras. More importantly, how uncomfortable they often are; how our climbing physique doesn’t quite fit the norm. We laugh as we joke about how our lats burst out, making us look like football players in straight jackets.

Rachel T. Jones, a friend of the brand since we started as Arêt Basewear, was recently climbing with friends in Moab, when she noticed another solo climber, Amber, was watching from the side. As Rachel’s friend finished leading one of the slab routes at Ice Cream Parlor, the girl watching below pulled her shirt to the side of her shoulder, and goes...

That’s all it took. Amber had gone to the crag after driving from Austin to meet a guy only to be dumped by him that morning. She was there just to check out the routes solo, but Rachel invited her to join their group. When I was talking with Rachel about that day, she said “Amber’s energy was contagious and it felt like a truly serendipitous moment!” More importantly, without Rachel’s invite, Amber likely wouldn’t have come alone. Amber said in her Instagram post:

As the ladies climbed together, the magic worked its way from Amber, through to everyone else. Rachel was telling me that before this trip she felt depleted thanks to the increasingly challenging demands of motherhood—something many female climbers can also connect with. But this chance meeting, and the climbing that came after, changed all that:

This story is just one of many. I've had countless Tera Kaia basewear sightings at local climbing areas all over the country, and I just smile when I see the criss-cross racerback straps popping out of a tank top—the signature style of our sports bras.

Basewear has brought so many women together, allowing them to make friendships all over the country; friendships that might not have been formed without the catalyst of their basewear, which encourages conversation and the all-important, connection.

More importantly, in my experiences, and in the stories I hear, it’s become increasingly apparent that coming together as female climbers is powerful—and necessary. As Kate Sedrowski, climber, creator and community builder explains in her piece for Explore Inspired:

At Tera Kaia, we design basewear because we’re tired of clothes that don’t fit our bodies and don’t support our needs in the outdoors. What we didn’t realize when we started this company is that, in doing so, we’d be a catalyst for connection at the crag, an important connection that reminds us who we are when life gets in the way—strong, independent women.