Growing Upward: Gabrielle Tourtellotte

Meet Gabrielle Tourtellotte

A year ago I went out to Colorado for my first Open Sport and Speed Climbing Nationals. I stayed with a friend in Boulder and the day before qualifiers we went to Rocky Mountain National Park, which I’d heard of but never been to. At the time I’d only been to one National Park, Shenandoah, but I didn’t really know of many others or have a solid grip on what a National Park was. Going to Rocky Mountain really blew my mind. We did a chill, five mile hike that day; the Emerald Lake trail. But the whole park was, pardon the cliche here, unlike anything I’d ever seen. I was absolutely blown away that something like this actually existed in real life after only ever having seen pictures in NatGeo magazines, or on the internet. I bombed horrendously in qualies the next day, so instead of going to semis the day after, we went to “this park that my friend said we should go to, it’s got lots of sand.” (my friend’s words not mine, I promise). This park with lots of sand was the Great Sand Dunes National Park.

The whole day was an adventure. We got up about two hours later than we’d anticipated, made a pit stop at a Walmart in the middle of nowhere, and we finally made it there. Upon setting foot on the sand, we set our sights on making it to the top of the Star Dune before the park closed that day. It was a total blast, and the whole park was beautiful. It was windy though, and as we got closer to the top, we realized exactly how under dressed we were. There were hikers up there with buffs covering their eyes, long pants, and jackets, and all we had on were t-shirts, not quite full length pants, and light jackets! We got so much sand in our eyes and lungs. But we made it, the view from up top was absolutely incredible, and we definitely made fun of rolling as much of the way down as we could.

I’m a patch and pin collector though, and later on, after we were done getting sand in our clothes, I found a copy of the National Geographic guide to the U.S. National Parks in the visitor center gift shop. It was while paging through it, that I realized there were so many other places like this out there. So I made a goal for myself right there, that one day I’d visit all 59 National Parks in the U.S. I’m 13 in so far and am in love. I’ve developed a serious passion for public lands protection and conservation. I’m always reading about our parks and monuments (the history behind them is really incredible) and it has made me look into joining organizations like AmeriCorps, or the Student Conservation Association after I graduate. I’d love to join the Park Service one day.

This experience was my “dawning”, it was when I realized that, “wow the outdoors are pretty amazing and man do I want to see more of it”. Prior to then I wasn’t even really much of an outdoors person, save for climbing. But even then, I hated the hiking involved in getting to a crag. I only wanted to climb. The National Parks have opened up a whole new lens to enjoy the outdoors through. I no longer hate hiking. If anything, it’s now one of my favorite things, and I can’t wait to do even more of it.





What is one of the biggest challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Competing and my desire to get outside are starting to butt heads. Competitions are expensive and so is travel. That’s been the biggest obstacle I’ve had to overcome. It just involves a lot of strategic saving, picking up extra hours at work and getting creative when necessary, and sometimes just acknowledging that I can’t afford everything on a college budget.

What is a common question you are asked?
I train a lot. If I’m not at school, I’m in the gym, and if I’m not training in the gym, I’m catching up on classwork and studying. It requires a lot of discipline and dedication. I don’t have much of a social life outside the gym and I’m pretty busy and stressed out all the time. So the question I get asked the most is, how on Earth do you handle this? Or, another common variation, what keeps you going? The answer to those two, is a pretty dogged sense of unwavering motivation and determination to achieve my goals. And a lot of coffee. I just really want to achieve those goals, and if that means missing out on a lot of normal college experiences, then so be it. I love what I do.

What’s next for you?
I’m always looking forward to the next thing! I never really stop thinking of the next trip, and at the moment I’m looking at my travel plans for 2019. I’m hoping to use my spring break in March (ten days) to hit Sequoia and Kings Canyon NP, Death Valley NP and the Pinnacles NP. A friend of mine and I have been talking logistics about taking a week long trip to Acadia NP in June next year, and I’m trying to find a way to also get to Cuyahoga Valley and the Great Smoky Mountains NP before I leave the East Coast.

I’m rehabbing a finger tendon injury at the moment. I strained my A2 pulley tendon while climbing back in June and I’m still in rest mode. So I’m waiting on that to heal so I can start training again in preparation for my competition season. I’ve committed to Tri State Bouldering Series and my very last Collegiate Climbing Series and maybe Open Sport and Speed Nationals, so it’s safe to say I’m looking forward to getting back on the wall, and back on the comp circuit ASAP!

What encouragement do you have for someone ready for adventure?
Oh my gosh, GO FOR IT!!! Seriously though, don’t think about it too hard. Just go for it. Pursue whatever your heart desires with unbridled enthusiasm, whatever it may be. Don’t be scared of new experiences, because that’s part of the adventure too.


How can people get in touch with you or follow your adventures?
Full confession: I’m pretty terrible at social media, and I barely know how to use my own phone. The only thing I really have is Instagram. I’m always down to swap emails too!