GROWTH, COMMUNITY, LEGACY
Supported by The North Face, WCS is excited to welcome the women of Yonder climbing wall in Walthamstow, London, to our 2025 flagship event in Sheffield. We caught up with Cienna Hewitt, Marketing and Events Manager at Yonder, to find out more…
MORE THAN JUST A WALL
Yonder began as a start-up, crowd-funded passion project in 2018, and in the years that followed has become a community-led hub where climbing meets culture, inclusivity and co-working. Besides boulders, Yonder is a space for yoga classes, film tours, affinity group socials, studying and street parties, and even serves as a base for local running clubs.
Cienna Hewitt has been there from the very beginning. Working the front desk as part of a tiny team of like-minded Londoners, her Yonder career began during a formative period in her climbing journey too.
“I started climbing completely by accident,” Cienna laughs. “I was travelling, exploring my next move in life… I was never great at school and didn’t want to continue in education. I found out later in life that I am mildly dyslexic, which was the root of a lot of my problems, and I didn’t know what I wanted to do for a career.
“I was with a climber friend who started bouldering on the beach. I asked him what he was doing and – having a competitive nature – I tried to mimic the moves he was making, refusing to fall off! My friend urged me to carry on when I got home, and from that moment everything I did became about climbing.
“I worked a retail job that was right next to my local wall just so I could go in every day. The people I met in the climbing wall allowed me to sink more and more into the person I now recognise as myself.”
A tip-off from a friend sent Cienna straight to the newly-opened Northeast London climbing wall. She dropped off her CV and was working at Yonder just one week later.
“As soon as I started working at Yonder I could see that it was an environment that fostered friendship and community,” she reflects. “The staff and customers have always been a massive family to me.
“No one is a stranger and you can see people make this transition from the moment they’re greeted at the desk. With the growing crowds in climbing, we are needing to find more ways to continue that feeling of welcome, comfort, support and ‘home’. I’m always motivated to create the same feeling for others that I felt when I first started climbing – of excitement, playfulness, challenge, and acceptance.”
DRIVING CHANGE
From her first day on the Yonder front desk, Cienna’s role within the wall has evolved as her passion has grown. Among the many other plates she spins, she works closely with The North Face to facilitate events, talks and activities that spotlight inspiring and diverse voices in climbing – often with a focus on women in the space.
“I’ve been at Yonder for six years now; it’s actually become a Christmas cracker joke at staff parties to guess how many job titles I’ve had… it’s seven!
“We’ve hosted some incredible The North Face Athletes and Explorers over the years at Yonder. For International Women’s Day, we had Amira Patel, founder of The Wanderlust Women, who, as a Muslim woman, has been denied access to certain countries because of her choice to wear a veil. Despite this, she’s completed a solo expedition to the Himalayas, became the first Muslim woman to summit Mount Toubkal and designed the world’s first outdoor hijab.
“We’ve had Solenne Piret - a French para-athlete with four gold’s at the Paraclimbing World Championships and 8 at the World Cup - teaching workshops and talking about navigating difficulties that non-disabled folks would not.
“Xian Goh - a renowned climbing coach and author - spoke in a panel talk about her entry to climbing 19 years ago and the evolution of change that has occurred since then.
“Empowering stories and representation build such an important bridge for those thinking that a sport is not for them.”
Yonder’s partnership with The North Face has enabled them to mark international occasions like Global Climbing Day as a celebration of their common goal: inclusivity and connection through climbing. Over the years, The North Face has delivered a roster of inspiring speakers including James Pearson and Caroline Ciavaldini, Molly Thompson-Smith, Toby Roberts, Stefano Ghisolfi, Matt Pavitt and the Climbxr community to name a few.
The North Face athlete Solenne Piret and explorers Xian Goh and Amira Patel have spoken at Yonder events.
GROWING WITH CARE
This International Women’s Day, Cienna and other inspiring women from the Yonder team will be heading from London to Sheffield to celebrate with WCS, a connection facilitated with the support of our mutual partner, The North Face. With the event’s theme being ‘Grow’, it’s an opportunity to share our experiences of growing community, how we grow with care in the rapidly expanding world of climbing and what growth means to each of us personally.
“Within my job role, I consider how we can continue to grow as the climbing community does too,” says Cienna. “I ask myself often: What is this new space we are moving into with climbing? And, what is our responsibility? I think growth within climbing walls means ensuring they are continuing to evolve, making sure that they are breaking down old-fashioned barriers that feel exclusive. Whether it’s adding more down-climbs for para climbers, hosting socials for members of LGBTQ+ communities or ensuring that for Muslim communities there is space for prayer, these small steps allow people to feel welcome and pave the way for growth.
“As a next step, we also have to consider the effects of our growth as a community. Growth is happening in this sport so quickly, and so is the need for education in both indoor and outdoor spaces. From making a conscious effort to consider those around you to maintain safe and friendly environments, to teaching new climbers how to respect natural spaces when they begin their outdoor adventures – that’s part of our responsibility too.”
CREATING A LEGACY
Cienna has been instrumental in growing communities within Yonder, opening doors to underrepresented and marginalised members of the climbing scene to create positive change. The work has been vast and challenging, but with support from The North Face Legacy Fund, Cienna and the team are creating a blueprint for long-term access to climbing for everyone: the Access To Climbing Program.
“The program combines all the tendrils of support we can offer as an independent wall to our community and further afield,” Cienna explains. “It all starts within the physical space, always assessing our facilities to create an accessible environment for all, alongside looking at our own product offering and the socials we run.
“We want to ensure they have accessible costs and good representation. If the representation isn’t among our staff, we will seek to support local community groups, who are already doing the work to grow their communities and support those who struggle with financial barriers – whether that’s through lower entry prices for community socials or helping with visibility and growth.
“The North Face Legacy Fund means we can further our outreach and offer climbing to people in the local area, providing a full education program with continued access to climbing for over 150 people. It’s based around the idea that initial access to a sport is only the first hurdle, and to create a true legacy you must focus on the second – providing continued access.
“We work so well alongside The North Face as our ideas and hopes for the sport marry together. It’s so beautiful that together we can provide so many opportunities and experiences within the sport and also throw some fun, meaningful and unforgettable events.”
Cienna and the Yonder team will join us at The Climbing Hangar, Sheffield on International Women’s Day 2025 - we can’t wait to welcome them!
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