Here’s What You Can Learn from the 8-Year-Old Who Climbs Way Harder than You

The first time Reagan Goodwyn led a climb, she was four years old. My son is also four, and sometimes I still wipe his butt.

But Reagan—and her family—inhabit a different realm than us mortals. Reagan, her parents, and her three little siblings live in a van. All the kids (except the almost two-year-old) climb. And most mind-boggling of all: The Goodwyn family didn’t start climbing until after having kids.

When I found this out, I felt like I had missed some serious beta. To me, becoming a parent is synonymous with climbing less (and worse). But for the Goodwyns, it’s been the opposite. Reagan started climbing when she was three years old—just casual bouldering in Alabama. “We actually weren’t into climbing at all,” Reagan’s dad David Goodwyn says. “We were more into mountain biking.”

Then the family moved into an RV and headed west to find better mountain biking. The impetus for getting into climbing was a fluke—the Goodwyn family had been on the way to ride in Bentonville, Arkansas when an injury threw a wrench in their plans.

“We were in Memphis, Tennessee, about halfway there [to Bentonville],” David remembers. “I was stepping out of our camper and I rolled my ankle.” Unable to ride, David pointed the RV further west to Moab, where an off-roading event they wanted to check out was taking place.

After some off-roading, the family noticed all the climbers at the Wall Street area off Potash Road. They’d always wanted to try roped climbing and they already had climbing shoes for bouldering. So they bought a rope and some quickdraws and “got pretty into it.” The family started with sport climbing, but quickly got into trad. And it wasn’t long before a natural leader emerged among the Goodwyns.

World’s Smallest Rope Gun

Reagan got her first foray into leading on a low-angle slab route at the Small Adventures Wall in Moab. Then, shortly before her fifth birthday, while hanging out in Indian Creek, she asked her dad if she could lead a trad climb: Chocolate Corner, a 5.9+ thin hands crack.

David recalls initially brushing off his daughter’s bold request. But then Reagan waltzed over to the route, climbed up a bit and plugged a cam into the crack. David took a look: It was bomber.

“She crushed it,” David says. “I was blown away.”

Reagan says she climbs because it’s fun—and for the sense of achievement. “I like the feeling of getting up high and feeling accomplished when I send,” Reagan reflects. “I like that feeling a lot ‘cause I’ve overcome my fear of falling.”

Most of Reagan’s accomplishments have been in the crack department. Her Instagram account—which is managed by her parents—is filled with reel after reel of her sending splitter sandstone cracks in Indian Creek, wearing her signature send uniform: Carhartt overalls, a pink long-sleeved shirt, a magenta Ocun harness, and a blue helmet. (Thankfully, Ocun also makes crack gloves small enough for her hands.)

Watch Reagan Send Spaghetti Western in Indian Creek

While she’s a crack climber through and through, Reagan will climb slab if there are decent crystals or holds. She says overhanging sport climbs feel “weird” because she can’t see the next hold to assess whether it’s any good.

Reagan’s also been getting more into multi-pitch climbing—and has even learned to make her own anchors with trad gear. “We’ve done a lot of multi-pitch together where she’s had to build her anchors all alone, up above me,” David says. “She belays me up on the anchor she’s built. So I definitely trust her.”

I asked David if he was nervous the first time Reagan belayed him on an anchor she built. “I’m always like, ‘You’re pretty sure it’s bomber?’” David says. But every anchor that she has built has been solid, according to him.

One thing Reagan loves is topping out on a multi-pitch climb, then eating a snack in the sun—dried mangos or stroopwafels. “That’s always a really fun thing to do when you’re at the top and you just accomplished something you really wanted to do,” she reflects.

Safety Check: An Eight-Year-Old on the Sharp End

“We feel like what we’re doing is pretty safe,” David says. During Reagan’s early days of leading trad, David would hang on a static line above her to make sure her placements looked good as she worked her way up. Though he tried to remain relatively hands off “as long as everything looked safe.”

“Have you taken any whippers? What’s the most scared you’ve ever been?” I ask her.

Reagan level-sets with me: “I’ve never had a placement where I’ve been not sure that my gear was going to hold.” Though this was Reagan’s first interview ever, she consistently exudes a confidence beyond her years—in her gear placements, in her climbing, in herself.

As for whippers, Reagan took a few on what she considers her favorite route of all time—and also the scariest climb she’s ever done. Slice and Dice is a 5.12 in Indian Creek on the Way Rambo crag. The .75 hand crack is right in Reagan’s wheelhouse, but the roof puts her skills to the test. “The rope gets so heavy that I just fall on it every time and I’m like, ‘Dang it!’” she says.

“She’s taken some pretty interesting whips on that one,” David agrees.

But did Reagan—who always wears a helmet—sustain any injuries on those interesting whips? “I just chipped my fingernail, that was all,” Reagan says. The chipped nail remains her only climbing “injury” to date.

The day after struggling up Slice and Dice, Reagan went back to try it again—and sent it. “I overcame my fears and I knew I could do it,” she says.

The other safety question implicated in Reagan’s story? Trolls. David started the account before she really even started climbing, mainly to take videos of her riding her bike. He put “rocks” in her handle because the family was doing a little bouldering at the time. At first it was for fun, but then it became about documenting Reagan’s accomplishments.

Initially, the Goodwyns experienced a “mixed” response on Instagram, with some people who were very supportive, and others who felt that kids shouldn’t be attempting what Reagan was doing. Some started to suggest the photos they were posting of her leading were staged, so David started posting more videos instead of photos. But these days, the response to Reagan’s content is overwhelmingly positive.

“We’ve seen less and less of the haters out there,” David says. “If anything, now it’s just people saying her hands are so small or the strength-to-weight ratio makes it easier for her, trying to discount her achievements.” But the family could care less about those haters—Reagan is working hard and having fun and “that’s all that matters,” David says.

Reagan’s Climbing Advice for Grown-Ups—and Kids, Too

“Go to Indian Creek”: That’s Reagan’s best pointer for anyone who wants to get better at climbing cracks. She explains that climbing in Indian Creek “teaches you to stay in the crack” because there’s nothing on the face.

And how might a full-grown adult acquire the confidence of this crack climbing prodigy? “I get scared sometimes,” Reagan admits, “but you just got to place good gear and feel confident in everything you’re doing.” Beyond that, she says her main goal is safety.

Another goal of Reagan’s? To find some climbing partners who aren’t grown-ups. “I would love to have more little friends out there,” she says. “It’s kind of hard to come by.” She’s hoping more kids will start getting into climbing like her.

On the upside, Reagan is starting to serve as a mentor to her three younger siblings—in play and on belay. Her oldest brother Anderson just turned six, and he’s already led his first 5.11. “I was so nervous,” David recalls of the milestone, though he notes that Anderson got up the route no problem. “He’s gung-ho trying to lead more and keep up with his sister,” David explains.

A Rock Warrior’s Childhood

In a world of hectic schedules, growing academic obligations, and pervasive screens, Reagan’s childhood is rooted in the outdoors and climbing. Her family of six drives the van where the climbing is good. Schooling is unschooling, and David says they follow Reagan’s lead. When she’s into math, they focus on math. Now she wants to be able to read more signage, so she’s working on spelling and reading. After a few hours of learning, they go outside, explore, and climb.

Moab is as close to a “home base” as the Goodwyn family has, and it’s where you’ll likely find them in spring or fall. It is, after all, where they store their mountain bikes. During the rest of the year, you might find them in Vedauwoo, Joshua Tree, Squamish, or Red Rock, where they spoke to Climbing from the back of their van. One day, Reagan says she hopes they can visit Patagonia. “I’ve looked at some pictures and I would like to climb those really good sheer rock faces,” she says.

As for nearer term climbing goals, Reagan wants to do more multi-pitch and get into big walls. But there’s “one big goal” that she really wants to tick off: Belly Full of Bad Berries (5.13), an invert offwidth in Indian Creek.

I asked her when she’s hoping to climb this notoriously challenging route. “I don’t really have any timelines,” Reagan says. “I’ll do it when I really want to. Sometime soon.”