Holly Yu Tung Chen

Journalist | Writer | Routesetter

Holly was born in Taiwan and raised in Hong Kong. Now she lives in Denver.

Holly is an independent multi-media journalist currently reporting on adventure, climbing, climate, and the climbing gym industry. She has bylines in Alpinist Magazine, Climbing, Climbing Business Journal, the Click news, the American Alpine Club Publications, Gym Climber, and Sharp End Publishing. She is the host and producer of The Impact Driver Podcast, a production of the Climbing Business Journal, where she interviews fellow routesetters about the young and budding industry of professional routesetting.

Holly has a bachelor’s degree in Literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She graduated with departmental honors, the Undergraduate Dean's Award, the Bertha N. Melkonian Award for Undergraduate Research and the Humanities Undergraduate Research Award.

Holly is currently a graduate student at New York University, studying journalism.

Contact

You can reach Holly at: holly.ytchen (at) gmail.com or via the contact page

Selected Writing

Narrative Non-Fiction

MAY 1985: On Windy Corner, 6,000 feet above Denali base camp on the Kahiltna Glacier, Sarah Doherty found herself airborne.

If Doherty had screamed, it was drowned out by the howling wind that enveloped her and her rope partner, Bill Sumner, so suddenly. The wind had swept underneath her, picking her up and suspending her for several seconds over the rocks and cornices of the ridge, as her arms gripped her crutches, her only connection to the mountain besides Sumner. Tiny, cold crystals slashed her face. She kicked, trying to get her single, cramponed boot back onto the snow. Sumner, short-roping Doherty, hunkered against the slope and dug his ice axe into the crusty surface. The violent wind bit into his down jacket. He could feel the snot running down his face, forming into icicles. He feared the wind would pick him up too and, tied in together, they would fly off into the sweeping Alaskan sky, never to be seen again. Sumner dug his axe in deeper.

Originally published in Alpinist 86 (only in print).

Eleven-year-old Campbell Harrison free soloed ancient tombs. It wasn’t the most engaging activity, and he was a little bored, hanging with one arm off a statue of an ancient Egyptian god. The desert around him was a mess of beige. At this height, 50 feet off the sandy ground, everything blurred into indistinguishable shapes. Harrison would prefer monkeying around the climbing gym, even if it was on toprope. But free soloing tombs was better than homework. If only there were more pixels, he could see the pyramids better.

Originally published in the 2024 print edition of Ascent. Read full story here.

News Reporting

New Colorado Ballot Initiative Targets Big Cat ‘Trophy Hunting’ — the Click News

Colorado Voters to Revisit Public Funding for Abortion for First Time Since 1984 — the Click News

New Film About Jamie Logan Explores the Legendary Alpinist’s Transition — Climbing Online

Beloved Routesetter Lee Hansche Dies in Tragic Climbing Gym Accident — Climbing Business Journal

20 Classics in 20 Days Challenge Repeated 30 Years Later — Climbing Online

Massive Rockslide Destroys Classic Boulders in Rocky Mountain National Park — Climbing Online

Kilter Unveiled a New Toy at the 2022 CWA Summit in Salt Lake City — Climbing Business Journal

“They’re Giving it Their All”: The Cost of BIPOC Affinity Groups — Climbing Online

Selected Audio

No Theater on a Dead Planet

(NEW YORK) – At a March 2024 Broadway performance of “An Enemy of the People,” the new revival of Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 social drama starring Jeremy Strong, who would go on to win a Tony for his role, activists from the environmental group Extinction Rebellion, interrupted the performance to remind us that there can be “No theater on a dead planet!”

Listen to the full episode here

The Impact Driver Podcast Ep 9 — Bless its Brushless Heart

In this episode, Yedor covers the ins and outs of managing a multi-gym routesetting program and the importance of strong leadership starting from the top down.

Listen to the full episode here

The Impact Driver Podcast Ep 7 — Keep them Sketched Out

Claire and Holly’s both fun and serious conversation meanders from gender inequities to ladder fiascos and covers Claire’s most controversial setting opinion, the pervasiveness of imposter syndrome, offering inspiration and energy to coworkers, keeping comp climbers “sketched out,” the value of wide representation.

Listen to the full episode here

Routesetting

Available for single-day, multi-day, event chief, commercial, USAC competitions, citizens/community competitions, gym opening sets, showcases, and routesetting related writing/reporting.

Holly is a different voice. She is not here to ask questions that validate what the industry already knows, and neither is she here to argue the classic catch-22 of why there aren’t more women, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people in the industry. Holly is here because the routesetting industry is in its infant stages of becoming a fully-fledged labor profession and needs some objective and unbiased curiosity.

Holly also reports on the routesetting and climbing gym industry for the Climbing Business Journal. She is the host and producer of the Impact Driver Podcast.

Contact Holly at: holly.ytchen (at) gmail.com or via the Contact page.

Competition Portfolio