African American Climber Zenobia Sims Wants You to Face Your Fears in the Outdoors
Mesa Arch is a popular tourist destination at nearby Canyonlands National Park. Photo credit: Getty Images
Zenobia Sims wants you to face your fears in the outdoors.
She’s facing hers. After growing up in a military family and attending college on a track scholarship in southern Colorado, the 27-year-old Arizona resident made a spur-of-the-moment decision to move to Moab, Utah.
“At the time, I wanted a community that would assist with my creative development,” Zenobia explained. “Someone told me Moab would be like a music festival with more rocks than I could ever climb.” So she went.
Moab is a former uranium mining town located in the Utah desert. It’s home to beautiful sandstone formations, hundreds of miles of trails and a local economy built around outdoor recreation. As adventure tourism expanded, Moab has also had to reckon with unoccupied second homes, expensive short term rentals and rising housing costs.
Public land in Moab supports “off-highway vehicles, mountain biking, climbing, base jumping, hiking, horse-back riding, and river rafting” in addition to “oil and gas production, mining, and livestock grazing.”
The town is small - with only 5,300 residents - but its history stretches back much further than the founding of Moab in 1878. The land originally belongs to the Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute) and their history, dating back to the 13th century, is a part of the physical landscape - through petroglyphs and pictographs etched into the rock.
After moving to Moab, Zenobia found employment at a high ropes course and a whitewater rafting company. She learned how to paddle big water and even took a boat down Cataract Canyon, a section of the Colorado River known for class IV rapids.
She also found friends, an eclectic mix of fellow climbers, paddlers, slackliners and BASE jumpers who share her love of the outdoors.
“Having opportunities to guide made me realize that so many people don’t get a moment to just be outdoors or they don’t know how,” said Zenobia. ”I’m happy to be a facilitator or a helping hand.”
Zenobia completes a tandem BASE jump with local outfitter, BASE Jump Moab, which is run by slackliner, BASE jumper and business owner “Sketchy” Andy Lewis. Photo credit: Base Jump Moab
Even though African-Americans are reported to have some of the lowest participation rates in the outdoors, Zenobia had plenty of exposure from a young age. “My dad is an avid gardener; spending time with him in the garden has always been a safe place for me,” she recalled. “Observing nature with my parents was the most serene and happy that I saw them.”
So how did she go from sheltered kid to avid risk-taker?
Jump at opportunities
Zenobia grew up in a military household filled with lots of structure. She embraced self-discipline while studying martial arts for 15 years and later as a track athlete at Adam State University.
But part of that journey included dealing with disappointment. After graduating from college, Zenobia returned home and ended up at a dead-end job that wasn’t fulfilling. After spending the majority of her life knowing exactly what her next step would be - in both school and athletics - the uncertainty was unsettling.
Lately, her decision making has looked less like imposing order and more like letting go. Moving to Moab without a job lined up is one example. Trying to envision a financial security while doing seasonal work that she has grown to love is another. “I risk a lot by stepping off of that path,” Zenobia explained.
Climbing is what first drew Zenobia to Moab. Photo credit: Larry Harpe
Zenobia recently completed two tandem BASE jumps with new outfit, BASE Jump Moab. The company is run by Andy Lewis, 33, a professional performer, slackliner, BASE jumper and tandem instructor.
BASE jumping is an extreme sport that involves leaping from buildings, antennae, spans, or earth with only a single parachute system. There are no backups, there is no margin for error and mistakes can be fatal. It’s also legal 365 days a year in Moab as long as jumpers stick to BLM managed land and avoid trespassing on private property.
She described herself as feeling much more self-aware and much more nervous on her second BASE jump, which also happened to be the company’s first ever two-way tandem BASE jump. But then she thought about the day she almost died while driving to work in Arizona—a rollover accident that left her with eight pins and a plate in her leg—and she decided to take the leap. If a daily commute comes with no guarantee of safety, maybe it’s worth rethinking how we evaluate risk, after all. What new experiences could we open ourselves up to if we only realized that life has an expiration date—and none of us know it.
So she jumped. With letting go came the realization that “your life is seriously your own and you literally have to jump at opportunities.”
Communicate your goals
Like many families who have the means to do so, Zenobia’s parents have invested a lot of energy, time and resources into helping her achieve their goals. They worry about their kids in the same way that many parents do. They also would prefer that she apply for a government job, or something with more stability, higher pay and better benefits.
“I don’t think any parent that co-signed a loan for their daughter is super stoked that she’s not making six figures,” Zenobia reflected. “But I do believe they’re proud of me because my integrity is intact and I’m happy.”
Even though they don’t always understand or agree with her choices, Zenobia’s parents call both kids (her brother is a military officer) “young adults with bold options.”
Zenobia also knows that she “can’t go back. I’ve seen big whitewater and I know what it feels like to jump off of a cliff […] I do believe that I’m providing myself with an amazing experience that no one can take back. The backdrop we get to experience life [in Moab] is really divine, it’s beautiful. I wouldn’t trade it for security.”