Who is this Steph behind the climbing beta?

My site is about the climbing—the routes, the overlays, the trip reports—not really about me. I rarely post photos of myself (I don’t love being in front of the camera), and I’ve always aimed for timeless reports rather than a personal blog.

So it’s understandable people wonder: Who is this chick? She climbs everywhere with different partners, makes beautiful rock-climb overlays, maybe is a math teacher or an engineer or a data scientist, maybe lives in WA, BC, CA, CO… or maybe just in her car. Who knows?

Hi! I’m Steph Abegg:

Climber • Photographer • Adventurer • Math Nerd

Mountain adventure has been part of my life from the very beginning. My parents met backpacking in the Olympic Mountains in 1974, married within a year, and spent the late ’70s and early ’80s exploring Washington’s rugged ranges. I was born in 1983, and before I was three months old, they whisked me off on my first overnight (and international!) backpacking trip near Mt. Temple, BC. At age 11, I completed my first real alpine climb with them: Overhanging Tower in the Wind River Range. The mountains have been home ever since.

I got into technical rock climbing in university around 2005 and was fortunate to be taken under the wing of Clint Cummins—who I later realized was a pretty prolific climber in his day. I suspect he thought I was more experienced than I actually was, so I mostly just pretended to be competent while we climbed together for a while. He was as close to a true mentor as they come. That meant learning very old-school techniques, climbing on fairly ancient gear, and bivying on summits more often than planned—but it also meant learning solid systems, anchors, and how multipitch climbing really works. That foundation catapulted me into climbing independently, and by 2006 I was largely off on my own.

A major leg injury in 2010—caused by rockfall—pushed me further toward technical climbing. I’ve been climbing for about 20 years now, and in recent years I’ve felt truly fluent in the techniques, ticking off bigger, harder routes more efficiently. It’s been a fun and satisfying progression.

Outside climbing, I’m a math and data nerd. From 2014–2019 I taught calculus at Western Washington University. In 2019, I moved to Boulder, earned a Master’s in Applied Math at CU Boulder, and then worked as a data analyst.

In 2023, I moved to Estes Park, CO to fulfill a dream of owning a tiny home tucked against the mountains. Life shifted, and in mid-2025 I returned to the Pacific Northwest to be closer to family—and fully moved into a van to chase the next adventure: climbing, exploring, and creating.

I launched my website in 2006 as a simple way to share photos with friends and family. Over the last 20 years, it has grown into a sprawling archive of trip reports, maps, my signature route overlays and pitch-by-pitch photos, and other beta—and has become popular among the adventure climbing crowd.

So that’s me: a climber, nerd, photographer, and betacollector—someone who can’t stop chasing mountains, on paper or in real life. And yep, still single.

Here’s a timeline of where I’ve lived and my academic/career journey over the years:

Today, my website has three main sections:

□ 1. CLIMBING TRIP REPORTS.
The heart of my site is hundreds of trip reports from climbs (and a few other adventures) I’ve tackled over the years. For nearly two decades, I’ve poured my heart into documenting classic climbs across the western US — detailed trip reports, high-res route overlays, pitch-by-pitch photos, maps, and all the beta I wished I had when I first tied in. What started as a personal project has grown into a full-time commitment to share climbing knowledge and stories freely with the community.

□ 2. PROJECTS.
One of my favorite hobbies is finding creative ways to present data. This section features some of my more unusual and popular creations, including labeled panoramas, route overlays, posters, diagrams, photo comparisons, statistical studies, and more.

□ 3. PHOTOGRAPHY.
What began as the sole purpose of my website has now become just a small piece of it. I bought my first point-and-shoot in 2002, my first DSLR in 2005, and have been chasing beautiful shots ever since. My primary interests include bird, macro, aerial, and night photography. My work has appeared in various publications, and I also sell image files (on my Shop page).

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My website is massive, and it might feel a bit overwhelming to a first-time visitor. But I’ve organized it as clearly and logically as possible—and it’s all searchable. Of course, you can always just start clicking at random and see where the armchair mountaineering leads.

Thanks for visiting — and enjoy the adventure!

-Steph

Being a kid was an absolute blast—mountains, eating dirt, petting geese, teaching my sister to escape her crib, living in Israel, building Lego towers, putting barrettes in my dad’s hair, fishing with my grandpa, playing with toy guns, climbing rocks and trees, eating even more dirt, hosting tea parties with cats, backpacking with my parents, the Game Boy phase, suffocating in outhouses, hiking with cousins… and so much more.

Mountains have been part of my life from the very beginning. My parents met backpacking in the Olympic Mtns in '74, married within a year, and spent the late ’70s and early ’80s exploring WA's rugged ranges. I was born in '83, and before I was three months old, they whisked me off on my first overnight (and international!) backpacking trip near Mt. Temple, BC. At age 11, I completed my first real alpine climb with them: Overhanging Tower in the Wind River Range. The mountains have been home ever since.

From 2023 to 2025, I shared my mountain home in Estes Park with a lovable furrball named Newt(on)—named after Sir Isaac Newton, one of the inventors of calculus. Newt currently lives in Boulder with his three pals, Jimmie, Tucker, and Peach, but he’ll always have a special place in my heart.