About Us
Olivia Vitaterna
Olivia grew up in Illinois, began climbing in 2013, and moved to Fayetteville AR the following year for college. They started climbing outdoors, and worked at the university climbing wall, and dove headfirst into AR rock climbing. They began leading outdoor trips, hosting women’s and LGBTQ+ camping/climbing weekends, and volunteering at the annual 24HHH competition. After graduating, Olivia moved to Horseshoe Canyon Ranch to continue full-time guiding and educating. For three years, they lived in Jasper, AR teaching beginner climbers thoughtful and comfortable ways to climb. In that time, Olivia became a certified Single Pitch Instructor through the American Mountain Guide Association, learned rebolting and development practices, and in 2021 joined the Board of Directors of the Arkansas Climbers Coalition.
In 2022, Olivia returned to Fayetteville and deepened their involvement in volunteer efforts for both 24HHH and the ARCC, where they moved to the Secretary position and attended dozens of ARCC meet-ups and events. Olivia loves being the boots on the ground supporting large social events, connecting people to climbing on an individual level, and being out of cell service on a rock somewhere.
Favorite Climb – In The Crack or On Your Back
Favorite Climbing Experience – North Ridge of the Spearhead (only cried 3 times)
Sam Warren
Sam grew up in Fayetteville AR playing soccer and running cross country. He started climbing at La Casa Pollo in 2013 despite a fear of heights and quickly took to the movement on rock and learning new skills. He moved to Indiana for school where he found the Purdue Outing Club. Over the next 2 years he drove the 10 hour round trip most weekends to the Red River Gorge where he learned new skills, techniques, and how to teach climbing.
As he progressed through various climbing achievements, he developed a love for giant mountain adventures. In the pursuit of more peaks, he expanded from sport climbing into trad, ice, and alpine climbing and even bouldering.
Sam spent 2 years leading adventures at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch while exploring all the climbing Arkansas has to offer. During his time at the Ranch, Sam worked with hundreds of families and kids providing fun and memorable experiences outdoors. He has maintained a Wilderness First Responder from NASAR since 2020 and obtained his Single Pitch Instructor certification from the AMGA in 2023. He has enjoyed volunteering with the ARCC during the rebolting and trails days, developing new crags, and on the Logistics team for 24HHH.
Now Sam lives in Fayetteville again, and brings all of his cumulative experience of teaching and working with climbers to Arkansas Rock Climbing Guides.
Jason Groves
Jason grew up in River Valley of Arkansas playing the traditional stick-and-ball sports, and then went to college (even graduated!) at the University of Central Arkansas. He started climbing at a little hole in the wall bouldering gym in Springdale, AR in the early Spring of 2013 with his now wife, Bridgette, when he would visit on weekends. Shortly thereafter Jason would move to NWA whence he and Bridgette found themselves at the bouldering gym several times a week after falling absolutely in love with the sport. In the Fall of that year the gym had been closed and subsequently reopened by a group of 8 people, themselves included. Over a decade later and now the sole owners of Ozark Climbing Gym in Springdale, Stratus Climbing in Norman, OK and The Silos in OKC, OK, Bridgette and Jason never looked back.
Jason oversees the operations of the 3 gyms, and routesets and coaches Youth Teams at Ozark Climbing Gym. “Sharing climbing with other people is my absolute favorite thing that I get to do at work. Even if I don’t get to personally climb as much as I used to, I’m still super psyched to connect with people through climbing or introduce new people to the sport!”
Jason and his wife have two sons, a dog, and a turtle. He is pro pineapple-on-pizza, anti beach vacations (the sand gets everywhere!), a trivia nerd, and thinks slopers are the true S-tier hold type (or just has really weak fingies).
Pedro Somarriba
Introduced to climbing at a bouldering gym while an undergraduate student at the University of Florida, Pedro has been climbing whenever he can since 2009. Pedro moved to Arkansas in 2018 with his wife and three daughters to work for Walmart. More recently, Pedro moved to Atlanta to work for Home Depot. Pedro moves around, having lived for years in Okinawa, Japan; Mexico City, Mexico; Campinas, Brazil; Miami, Florida; and Durham and Fayetteville, North Carolina.
A Duke MBA, Pedro is a serial entrepreneur and owner of Estates in Other States LLC, an Airbnb holding/management company, and Lacaida, a rock climbing equipment manufacturer.
From 2010 to 2016 Pedro was an Army Special Forces soldier, colloquially known as a ‘Green Beret’ and deployed throughout Southeast Asia.
Favorite climb: Ancient Art
Favorite climbing experience: any time spent on rocks with friends and/or family