Asian American Voices: Robby Ondevilla
Physical Therapist & Subtle Asian Climbing Administrator
by Katherine Ku and Matt Levy
Robby’s story is the second in the Asian American voices series. He, along with the Subtle Asian Climbing team, are pushing to increase diversity in rock climbing by growing an online community and by connecting AAPI climbers all over the world.
Subtle Asian Climbing started out as an offshoot of Subtle Asian Traits (SAT), a Facebook Group founded in September of 2018 that rapidly grew to become one of the largest online Asian communities in the world. SAT, a sort of embodiment of the Asian experience in the West, now has around 2 million members, and is a phenomenon that has been covered by the likes of the New York Times.
As an Asian American, I’m a member of SAT as well as a number of its subgroups, such as Subtle Asian Dating (SAD) and Subtle Asian Cooking. At first glance, these groups are just filled with lighthearted, even silly, content such as memes and everyday anecdotes. However, you’ll quickly realize these posts are extremely relatable and incredibly good at succinctly describing specific experiences of hundreds of thousands of people.
Subtle Asian Climbing (SAC) also serves this purpose, bringing together Asian rock climbers from all over the world via memes and posts highlighting members of the community. I remember watching members participate in the #dynochallenge when i first joined, scrolling through posts of people catching holds from crazy jumps. Today, SAC is over 4,600 members strong, and has grown beyond an online presence into the real world, hosting in-person meet-ups both in gyms and outdoors.
To better understand the growth behind SAC, I sat down with my friend Robby Ondevilla, who is currently an admin on the SAC Facebook page and manages the SAC Instagram account. Robby is also a rock climber of 2.5 years and physical therapist based out of New Jersey. He is thoughtful and well-spoken, considering each of my questions carefully before answering.
Robby’s climbing career started when his brother approached him with a 2-for-1 special at New Jersey Rock Gym. Like me, he was a member of several Subtle Asian groups, including SAC, where he “lurked around for a little bit,” eventually posting more frequently, looking for advice as a newer climber. His role in SAC also grew when he made a suggestion to start an Instagram page to accompany the Facebook group, and was subsequently enlisted to create and run the account.
What started out as a mere spin-off of a larger trend, has since evolved into something much more. SAC has become almost an independent affinity group, a “safe space for a lot of us with the same values.” Especially during the height of the pandemic, it became clear that the value of SAC lies in its ability to bring together individuals who are not only passionate about rock climbing, but have also had similar experiences along the way. Robby himself has encountered some uncomfortable situations as an Asian American climber. He finds himself hesitant to visit nearby crags like Haycock Mountain in Pennsylvania, as “it isn’t the most diverse area.” Other times, he finds that his “choice of place to go climb and hike” are influenced by the possibility of being the only POC, especially in rural areas where there may be safety concerns. As a BIPOC climber, it’s easy to question whether this unease is all mental, but Robby is pushing for SAC to play a larger role in validating and addressing concerns regarding diversity and safety in the outdoors.
Furthermore, Robby and the rest of the SAC team have been instrumental in helping people meet both digitally and physically. While they continue to work to create more clear cut guidelines for planning and coordinating meetups, SAC has successfully hosted meetups all over the country, from Brooklyn Boulders in NYC to Red Rock in Las Vegas. For Robby, it’s been “rewarding to see that people are so willing to reach out when they’re traveling,” to connect with SAC locals in a given area. “It’s important to have diversity among the rock climbing community, treat each other with the utmost respect, and lift each other up.”
It’s clear that Robby has played a huge role in making the SAC community the safe space it is today, as he describes how much he loves watching people connect and create lasting bonds. Many of the current SAC leaders may not work full time in the rock climbing industry, yet the future of the group is full of potential. Robby confesses it’s “hard at times to keep up with how fast SAC is growing,” but “loves how it is currently thriving.” Despite his mellow composure, Robby speaks with certainty when he expresses his excitement for SAC’s future and that he and the core team “will give it all they got.”
