Danielle Jablonski
Meghan McDonald
Rory O’Leary

This project was conceived of by Danielle, Meghan, and Rory, three rock climber/filmmakers who met while climbing and decided to make their dream of climbing around the country a reality. 

Collectively, we have been involved in the climbing community for over 15 years: from working in climbing gyms and competing in competitions to mentoring youth climbers and climbing in various parts of the world.

We have all been involved in social and environmental issues at some level. Some of our work has included organizing and participating in events with groups such as United for Peace and Justice, organizing and leading international trips with the social justice program Global Outreach, and involvement in environmental and animal protection organizations. We take seriously our commitment to the environment and social justice issues and are eager to be good role models and to make a positive impact on the climbing community and travelers alike as we embark on our journey.

Please see our individual biographies below for more information about each of us.

Danielle (27)
New York, NY

Our local Aussie Danielle has a background in music, having studied classical music at university in Australia. As well as performing in many countries, Danielle has experience in sound recording and has recorded music for several projects. Danielle has also been involved with the production of a feature film and has experience creating a DVD and websites for several films. She also assisted with the production and editing of promotional videos and was responsible for film festival related exposure of an award-winning film.

She has been involved with climbing for only a short time, but she must be made to do it as she climbs super strong already.  She recently started competing in indoor competitions and has done surprisingly well having just made it to her first open final.

Danielle has always been interested in the preservation of the environment and has been involved in demonstrations to protect national parks and forests in Australia. She has also been involved in social justice work and has taken part in rallies and behind the scenes work on many issues.

Danielle is excited to have the chance to explore parts of the country that she has yet to visit, and to push herself and her climbing abilities as far as possible.

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Meghan (23)
New York, NY

Montana born, Tennessee raised, Meghan now lives and works in New York City. She has won many athletic awards and played Division I soccer at Fordham University in the Bronx where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in chemistry. She currently is a manager at The Rock Club in New Rochelle. TRC is the newest and largest indoor climbing gym in the North East (www.climbrockclub.com).

Meghan has been involved in rock climbing since she was 13 and has worked at gyms in New York, NY, Nashville, TN, and Stamford, CT. She recently started competing in indoor climbing competitions and has found a lot of success.

Meghan has been involved in community work since high school and has been actively involved in Nashville Peace and Justice, Code Pink, and United for Peace and Justice. She has also participated in five international service trips to Belize and India- two of which she organized and led through Global Outreach, a community outreach program at Fordham University designed to encourage students to be more socially aware.

As well as climbing experience, Meghan has experience in video production, having produced, shot and edited a 30-minute video while at school. She has also been involved in designing websites and is interested in photography and design. She is the founder of alt9 Productions.

Meghan is particularly excited to be involved in a project that will promote the sport of rock climbing to a new audience and that will highlight the environmental issues that she cares about.

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Rory (21)
Pleasantville, NY

Rory has lived all over, starting in Colorado and moving to Utah, Idaho, Germany, Texas, South Carolina and now New York. Through his travels he’s gained a positive social awareness and a yearning to travel more.

As well as basically living at the climbing gym during the cold months, Rory has been a student of Shao-lin kung fu for the last two years.  He maintains an organic diet and is always looking for ways to improve his overall health by sustainable means. He recently took the opportunity to backpack a portion of the Appalachian Trail where he had a face to face encounter with a black bear and walked away to tell about it.

Rory has been playing music for 8 years and has recorded and co-produced 5 songs with his band. He studied for 2 years towards a degree in nuclear engineering before moving to New York to become more involved in the climbing community and to pursue his goal of one day opening his own climbing gym/tai chi/martial arts center. He also envisions building and living in an entirely self sufficient, sustainable home or community.

Rory hopes that this trip will help him become a better climber and that he'll meet some amazing people along the way.

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