Sooji Clarkson is a keen climber based in her van, mostly around Te Anau. She welcomed the chance to join the New Zealand Alpine Team in 2019 as an opportunity to develop further in her alpine climbing.
A relatively late starter in the sport, Sooji didn’t take up climbing until she was in her late twenties but the passion rapidly took hold and has shaped the direction of her life since. Among her achievements are new or previously unrecorded ascents on the South Face of Tititea/Aspiring, Aoraki, and Dixon, some of which were completed with Gavin Lang in 2020 and documented in his book: Seeking the Light.
She is modest about her accomplishments and claims that as a climber she has never been notably strong, bold, skilled or accomplished, but it is the adventure and pure joy of climbing that keeps her “getting into all sorts of mischief on rock, snow, ice, choss and moss…”
We look forward to hearing more some of these exploits when Sooji takes to the 2023 festival stage as part of the Old-fashioned Storytelling session.
