- Ecuador -

Indigenous young women climbing in Cochauma, Ecuador

Meet Andrea Castillo, who has an extensive history in the Ecuador climbing community.

…and a number of pilot projects, establishments and initiatives she’s taken on to empower women through climbing.

Andrea’s extensive background:

• A Master’s Degree in Rural Development

• CEO of Amankai Ecuador, a climbing and menstrual education center for women and the LGBTQ+ community.

• Being the first Latina women team to climb The Nose.

• “Latitud Cero Climbing RockTrip Ecuador” project, recognized by the UN for it’s impact in the underserved community.

• “Escalando desde lo local” project, focused on indigenous communities.

• Organizer of the Warmikuma Rockfest, the Women’s Climbing Festival of Ecuador

You can see why we love her, and support her efforts in Ecuador!

>> also see: Andrea Castillo Piedra’s Full Resumé (.pdf English)

(use Closed Captions to see English subtitles)

Episode #2 of “8vos a los 30s”:
Valeria Valera

A project that travels from Cochauma to Cochamó for socio-enviro action.

• Social Impact: Develop climbing tourism in Cochauma with locals

• Environmental Impact: Highlight Cochamó through a climbingfilm

8vos a los 30s is one of our 2024 Accompanied Programs.

8vos a los 30s is now applying for funding and fundraising for this project!

Support the film here for a sticker “No Hay Manos, Solo Hay Pies” ;) by November 2024.

The trailer of 8vos Ep1
(coming soon)

what is “Octavos a los treintas” (8vos a los 30s)?

Andre travels with indigenous women on annual 15-30 day international rocktrips, where they learn how to be autonomous and move in other countries. A film is made for every year to fundraise for the next year.

Each woman uses this experience to catalyze a socio-environmental project that engages their indigenous community with their climbing area.

The name of the project originates from Andre's motivation to one day climb 8th grade routes in her 30s, however, it is an analogy to the process involved in climbing routes of this level, and how complex it can be to organize an international climbing trip for people from rural communities in a country with high rates of migration, poverty, hunger and crime.

Letters of Recommendation (Translated in English)
Petzl Ecuador
FEDANE
Ex-Mayor of Cayambe

Images from Episode #1: Fernanda Lechón

Episode #1: Fernanda Lechón
|| The project travels to chilean patagonia

In 2022, the first edition of the series was with Fernanda Lechón, who traveled to Chilean Patagonia where the group rock climbed, took their WFR (Wilderness First Responder) course and provided menstrual education workshops.