My name is Wade Desai and I go by my nickname, Wade. I am very fortunate to have been rock climbing for most of my life, and in recent years serve as the Director of Climbing for ASCEND Climbing; based in Pittsburgh, PA. I now perform a variety of duties for ASCEND, but notably, found my first leadership position with the company by way of our outdoor guiding program, with which I continue to provide guided outdoor rock climbing in the Pittsburgh and West Virginia regions. I currently reside primarily at Seneca Rocks, West Virginia. My duties regularly involve staff management, training and education, public relations, program development, scheduling and payroll, corporate strategy, and so much more. I run and administrate ASCEND’s climbing programming, which includes outdoor guiding services such as gym-to-crag programs. My role requires me to work with all levels of climbing professionals, and am versed in insurance, permitting, risk mitigation, and emergency management. Above all, I’ve always prided myself on working tirelessly to represent climbing professionally, safely, and with merit; all evidenced by the numerous media publications in which I speak to those topics.In my personal time, I am developing my property neighboring Seneca Rocks to be a nature preserve with many similarities to the land trust set up in Muir Valley. I find wildlife conservation and accessible outdoor recreation to be of equal importance in society, and I believe that land-trusted nature preserves are one sustainable method for contributing to those ends. I also participate in Pittsburgh’s LCO (SWPACC), notably through my formative role as a member of Climb Pittsburgh, which continues to increase municipally-sanctioned access to urban climbing in the Pittsburgh region.