Press
Bio, images, and how to reach me.
Bio
Shea McCrary grew up in Missouri, without mountains and without anyone in the family who climbed. She studied environmental science at the University of Arkansas, managed commercial climbing gyms in the Southeast, and started climbing in 2019.
She joined AWExpeditions in 2022 as a part-time operations manager. By 2026 she was general manager, and she is in the process of buying the company. AWE runs high-altitude expeditions for women in Peru, Kyrgyzstan and Argentina.
She has guided since 2022 and climbed in seven countries. She has summited Aconcagua, led an AWExpeditions team on Lenin Peak, and climbed a fifteen pitch route on La Esfinge at 5,325 m, and has logged 1,280 routes on Mountain Project since 2018. She is an EMT and a Wilderness First Responder, and serves on the technical ropes team at Red Rock Search & Rescue in Nevada. Outside AWE she works on special projects for the Summit Scholarship Foundation, including the annual Women of Mountaineering Calendar. She speaks English, conversational Spanish, and some French and Russian.
Press and published work
- Summit Scholarship: Closing the Gender Gap One Mountain at a Time, Summit Journal, December 2025
- A Love Letter to Mount Baker, AWExpeditions, May 2026
- In Motion Together, AWExpeditions, December 2025
- Meet Shea McCrary, CanvasRebel, May 2026
- The Climbing Majority, Podcast with Kyle Broxterman, Episode forthcoming
- Women in the Wilderness and the Great Outdoors, Global Rescue
Topics
- Buying a guiding company and running it
- Women at altitude: access, capability, investment
- The economics of a small guiding outfit
- Culture, climate and climbing in the ranges she works in
Contact
