Press
Bio, images, and how to reach me.
Short bio
Shea McCrary is the general manager and incoming owner of AWExpeditions, an all-women mountaineering company operating expeditions in Peru, Kyrgyzstan, and Argentina. She is a Wilderness First Responder and a member of the technical ropes team at Red Rock Search & Rescue in Nevada.
Long bio
Shea McCrary grew up in Missouri, without mountains and without anyone in the family who climbed. She studied environmental science at the University of Arkansas, managed commercial climbing gyms in the Southeast, and came to mountaineering by a route that was never linear but pointed consistently toward leadership in outdoor spaces.
She joined AWExpeditions in 2022 as a part-time operations manager. By 2026 she was general manager, and she is in the process of acquiring the company. AWE runs high-altitude expeditions for women who are serious about climbing, and works to keep those objectives within reach of the women who want them.
Shea writes and speaks about risk, the economics of guiding, and what it takes to treat guides as long-term partners rather than seasonal contractors.
Speaking topics
- Risk literacy: what fear tells you, and what it does not
- The economics of small guiding outfits, and why morale isn't a perk program
- Women in high-altitude mountaineering: access, capability, and investment
- Taking over a business you didn't start
Contact
