Meet the staff

Carsen Dowding

Owner

Climbing experience: Started climbing at Rogue Rock Gym more than 14 years ago, quickly moved to outdoor climbing and fell in love with trad.

Favorite style: High-key obsessed with off-width cracks.

Fun fact: Chalk doesn’t reduce sweat, it increases friction.

Credentials: Dubious at best, but she seems nice enough.

Alex Golden

Owner

Climbing experience: Started climbing at Rogue Rock Gym and fully intends to finish his climbing here.

Favorite style: Anything that requires a sense of balance. Climbing is advanced standing up.

Fun fact: Terry Pratchett loved Doom.

Credentials: Dubious at best, but he seems nice enough.

Gaur Groover

Manager, head routesetter, man of mystery

Climbing experience: Around a hundred and nine years. After the first day I knew I couldn’t stop, and I’ve since climbed in Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and a crag or two in the USA.

Favorite style: The raw power and intensity of bouldering, with the focus of a long rope climb a close second.

Fun fact: I love sloths.

Credentials: Biceps.

Keera Peterson

Coach, designer, youth program developer

Climbing experience: Four or five years, mostly as a gym rat, with some climbing outside.

Favorite style: Mainly a boulderer thanks to a fear of heights, but after an injury I’m becoming a rope person. Boulders still rule.

Fun fact: Zenas is my chess rival.

Credentials: AHA First Aid/CPR certified; lead and top rope certified at Rogue Rock Gym.

Emma Perreault

Consultant

Climbing experience: Climbing indoors and out since 2016, in Nevada, Utah, California, Greece and of course Oregon. International crags are next!

Favorite style: Sport climbing: long routes, clipping bolts and getting high. I’ve learned to love bouldering, but I’ll always try harder on lead.

Fun fact: I always listen to ABBA on the way to the crag.

Credentials: Certified personal trainer, first aid certified, WFR and Rescue 3 Rope Rescue Technician.

Gabriel Luksich

Youth instructor, front desk

Climbing experience: About three years, mostly here at the gym, with some outdoor bouldering and sport.

Favorite style: Anything… but… slab…

Fun fact: I’m also a mountain biker, so you’ll probably see me shredding the local trails.

Credentials: Very attentive spotter and belay certified.

Lincoln Potochnick

Front desk

Riley Anderson

Youth instructor

Climbing experience: Indeed!

Favorite style: Yes.

Fun fact: There are no fun facts, only Zuul.

Credentials: Who’s asking?

Maddox

New guy

Climbing experience: Yes.

Favorite style: One of them.

Fun fact: Did you know that sloths have cube-shaped poop?

Credentials: Not if we can help it.

Matt Lambert

Founder, consultant

Climbing experience: Started climbing in the early ’90s with the Boy Scouts. Climbing has taken me around the world, from Thailand to the Himalayas, through bouldering, multi-pitch rope climbing, mountaineering and ice climbing.

Favorite style: Big wall climbing. I love messing with gear and being thousands of feet off the ground.

Fun fact: I have a sailboat obsession.

Credentials: AHA First Aid/CPR certified. Over 15 years working and teaching climbing in indoor gyms, and an outdoor rock climbing and mountaineering guide in several states and internationally. I’ve summited El Capitan 25 times, twice roped-solo.