On the Beach with Margo Hayes

On a pretty balmy night this past December I met Margo at the beach to shoot some photos as the sun went down. These wound up going in this kind of shipwrecked maiden direction for the first half — with the tousled waves and barefoot pebble scrambling— and ended with a little costume change into my favorite funky dunky collage dress by Bimba y Lola. Margo absolutely crushed this.

If you don’t know her, she made history in 2017 as the first woman to climb 5.15a— this is absurdly difficult— when she was just 19. I remember watching this climb in mouth-open awe at the Reel Rock 12 screening at my college, only about a year into climbing at that point. This was so inspiring for my wee self, who was stoked to see a climber on the big screen close in age, and a woman! She’s still my climbing hero, and now one of my favorite subjects.

The below images are digital, Polaroids, and 35mm.

photograph of climber Margo Hayes by photographer Juliet Furst