Julia Geisler grew up in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. She discusses an early connection to nature and outdoor activities like night skiing, camping, snowboarding, and backpacking. After graduating from Dickinson College, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, with a degree in Environmental Science, Julia traveled, through-hiked the Appalachian Trail and John Muir Trail, taught English in Japan, and guided outdoor trips for youth in California for the Adventures Cross-country and in Utah for the Oakley School. In 2003 Julia moved to Park City, Utah, for snowboarding and found work waitressing/bar-tending and being a climbing guide for White Pine Touring under Charlie Sturgis' mentorship. In 2012, Julia became the Executive Director of the Salt Lake Climbers Alliance (SLCA) and started her own guiding business Park City Yoga Adventures. Julia talks about several SLCA accomplishments including signing a MOU with the Uinta Wasatch Cache National Forest, signing the Gate Buttress lease with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Little Cottonwood Canyon, creating the Alpenbock Loop Trail with the Forest Service and other partners at the bottom of Little Cottonwood Canyon, rerouting the Jacob's Ladder Trail to Lone Peak Cirque, collecting data and advocating for permanent pit toilets at Joe's Valley bouldering areas in Orangeville, Utah, and helping to establish the first professional anchor maintenance crew in the country.

View Julia Geisler's Oral History in the Marriott Digital Library