The 10 Best Climbing Instagrams

These days everyone and their mom has an Instagram account. With more than 300 million active users, this social media platform that was once kinda cool is now inundated with 70 million pointless photos every single day. Research says that 69.8 million** of these daily shots are images of Starbucks cups, lame selfies, stale inspirational quotes, #foodporn, and the worst offense in my book—yoga on a mountaintop. Thankfully there are some diamonds in the rough for us climbers. There are the obvious ones, like the accounts of longtime climbing photographers, pro climbers, and outdoor brands, but fewer and farther between are high-quality climbing accounts from the average Joe. Yes, climbing is really hard to shoot (follow these rules to improve your own climbing photography), but these 10 up-and-comers are crushing it.

Alyse Dietel @seelyseeclimb
This spunky Arizona climber crushes 5.13 sport and 5.11 trad with a smile—and this is all after overcoming a devastating fall that put her in a wheelchair.

Andy Wickstrom @andywickstrom
As half of Design Egg (@eggtravels), Wickstrom travels the country with his wife Jess providing free design, photography, and consulting services to non-profit organizations, artists, and entrepreneurs. 

Savannah Cummins @savcum
Ice climbing, bouldering, sport climbing, dog sledding—there’s nothing this girl does that doesn’t look freaking rad.

Matt Haig @nervousone
If you’re looking for shots of Bishop, look no further than Haig’s account. You’d think that photo after photo of the same place might get boring, but trust me, it doesn’t.

Jon Glassberg @jonglassberg
As a founding member of the video production company Louder Than 11 (@louderthan11), Glassberg has been branching out on his own to develop his photography skills, and his talent and unique vision clearly come through in his daily posts.

Flash Foxy @heyflashfoxy
Started by a New York climber, this “badass lady crew” is an awesome collective of lady crushers who aim to inspire and celebrate women through sharing their climbing pursuits.

Kyle O’Meara @konakyle
As the head coach and routesetting manager at Momentum Indoor Climbing in Utah, O’Meara’s account provides constant bouldering inspiration from his local areas and beyond.

Just Go Climb @justgoclimb
Ah, if only their suggestion were that easy! But this couple, consisting of Brandon Fox and Gabi Enos, are traveling the country and documenting their trip with sweet climbing shots from Hueco to Leavenworth to Squamish.

Alex Manelis @amanelis
Based in San Francisco, Manelis shoots a ton in two of the most beautiful places on earth: Bishop and Yosemite, plus a great mix of beautiful portraiture and travel photos.

Kati Hetrick @katiann84
Hetrick is an athlete manager, best friend to pro Alex Johnson (@alexjohnson89), and strongwoman who lives in Las Vegas and lives a life that most of us can only dream of—putting up first ascents in her backyard and playing in the desert Southwest.

Climbing Magazine @climbingmagazine
OK, technically this makes 11, but our feed is filled with some of the best climbing photography around, curated by yours truly. Tag @climbingmagazine to be featured!

**Totally false statistic that I made up.