ALUMNI STORIES
Climbing in Paradise
A longtime, passionate rock climber, Noah Bañez ’18 pursues his sport in an unlikely location: the isolated island of Guam. The co-founder and managing director of Guam Sports Climbing Center (Climbing Guam) in Barrigada, he also coaches the Guam National Climbing Team.
He and his wife, Olivia “Ozie” Le Sage Bañez, moved to Guam in 2022 for her work as a marine biologist. She serves as the coral reef policy and communications coordinator at the Guam Coral Reef Initiative and co-leads the Communications Working Group of the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force with representatives from U.S. states and territories and federal agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The two, who met at Providence School, come from Westmont families. Noah’s parents, Joel and Lori Ann Bañez, work as staff members, and Ozie’s mother, Kathy Le Sage, served as the longtime women’s tennis coach and kinesiology professor. Noah majored in kinesiology at the college to pursue his interest in human movement.
A few months after arriving on the island, Noah heard about two residents who owned a badminton gym and planned to install a rock climbing wall despite limited exposure to the sport. With Noah’s expertise as a climber and his experience managing a rock climbing gym in Santa Barbara, he formed a partnership with the two men. They opened Climbing Guam in January 2023. Within six months, the sport became so popular, they decided to expand.
In January 2024, Climbing Guam celebrated a second grand opening with a space triple the size of the original gym. The additions feature open space conducive to community-building activities, something Noah feels passionate about. In a new training area, serious climbers can work on improving their skills.
Noah uses the expanded space and training area to coach members of the newly established Guam National Climbing Team. He and gym co-founder Rui Wang created the Guam National Federation of Sport Climbing so the U.S. territory can participate in international meets. In 2024, they competed in Australia, Austria, China, South Korea and Saudi Arabia (where Noah ranked 14th), and the team aspires to represent Guam in the Olympics. The federation held its first national ranking tournament in March at Climbing Guam and now belongs to the International Federation of Sport Climbing, the sport’s worldwide governing organization.
Noah and Ozie enjoy living on the small island in the middle of the Pacific. They spend their free time hiking, snorkeling, scuba diving and surfing in a tropical paradise. In addition, they join in local conservation efforts, educating residents and encouraging the community to participate in clean-up days on the beach.
But the location also features challenges such as extreme weather. In May 2023, they endured super typhoon Mawar, which battered Guam’s 212 square miles with sustained winds of 140 mph. The storm damaged buildings, destroyed trees and cut off electricity and water for most of the 170,500 residents. Noah and Ozie lived without power for two weeks.
They appreciate living and working in a culturally diverse setting, which has challenged them to expand their view of the world. Noah and Ozie have read Erin Meyer’s book “The Culture Map” to better connect with people from varied cultural backgrounds who call Guam home. Noah’s parents heard Meyer speak about her work in cross-cultural communication at Westmont’s annual leadership conference, Lead Where You Stand, and recommended the book.
Learn more about Climbing Guam at climbingguam.com and about Ozie’s work at guamcoralreefs.info.