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Dr. Favia Dubyk is Cancer Survivor and Founder of Traverse Girl

Listen to her talk about her past and climbing future on the Tough Girl Podcast

Dr. Favia Dubyk is a cancer survivor living in New Mexico with her partner and crag dog Hans. She’s also the founder of TraverseGirl.com, a MelaninBaseCamp.com contributor and appeared on two seasons of Ninja Warrior. TraverseGirl focuses on the best lowballs and traverses across the U.S.A. Favia was raised by a single mom before attending Harvard University and Colombia and now works as a pathologist at the University of New Mexico.

She discovered her love for rock climbing during medical school. “I climbed outside nearly every weekend at Cooper’s Rock in West Virginia until I was diagnosed with advanced stage lymphoma,” she said. “For nearly a year, I was unable to fully use my arms and legs as I endured painful surgeries and toxic chemotherapy. I decided that climbing would be my reason to continue through the pain. During recovery, I slowly regained my strength and returned to the gym. The idea of returning to climbing (along with family and friends) helped me through the roughest part of my life. I’m grateful to be climbing more than ever. Now, I am a physician who specializes in pathology; and I boulder outside regularly around New Mexico or at Hueco Tanks, my favourite climbing destination.”

Listen to a Favia on the Tough Girl Podcast in the YouTube video below and watch her on Baby Martini V6 in Hueco Tanks. “This is my favorite warm-up,”  she told Gym Climber. Be sure to follow her on Instagram for inspiration and rad photos of classic problems around the U.S.A.

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I'm too exhausted from fighting racism at work, at the climbing gym, and in outside spaces to write anything on here. So here is a picture of me bouldering in Santa Fe over the weekend. It was quite the adventure! We drove for miles on rough roads that were alot for my 16 year old Jeep, just to end up in the middle of flat lands and angry cows. Eventually, we found the parking area but we went the wrong way and couldn't find anything in the guidebook. Luckily this area has a ton of boulders so we found many lines to climb. The basalt rock feels amazing and has incredible features. The adventure continued though with a hail thunderstorm and me trying to protect my dog from a good sized snake that was lunging towards him! ? . . . . #blacklivesmatter #blm #blacksinstem #blackdoctors #amplifymelanatedvoices #melaninbasecamp #santafe #browngirlsclimb #girlsboulder #rockclimbingwomen #nmbouldering #nmclimbing #santafenewmexico #cancersurvivor #lymphomasurvivor #womenwhoexplorenewmexico #sportivapassion #deuterusa #itsadeuterday @organicclimbing @deuter_usa @lasportivana @chalkcartel ?: @matthoff85

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