Posted by: Julie Block
Get to know our 2025 Mountain Games Athlete Team! In the lead-up to the 2025 GoPro Mountain Games, we will introduce you to each of our nine Mountain Games-sponsored athletes. This vibrant team embodies our core values: a passion for human-powered mountain sports, an active outdoor lifestyle, eco-consciousness, and a spirit of adventure.
Abby Holcombe is a World Champion Freestyle Kayaker, 4x USA National Champion, 3x USA Team member, full-time traveler, and lover of adventure! Abby loves all types of kayaking but is most passionate about freestyle kayaking, where athletes perform aerial tricks and flips, like gymnastics, but in a kayak! She started competing at the Mountain Games at the age of 11, and it’s been a highlight each year since. Read on to learn more about Abby.
Q: What is your favorite mountain moment?
A: My favorite mountain moments are the sunsets after a really big adventure. Whether it’s a full day of kayaking, or a big long hike, or climbing, or whatever that adventure might be, it’s really hard to beat just staring into the sunset and appreciating where you are.
Q: If you could take any three items on a mountain adventure with you, what would they be?
A: If I were going on a mountain adventure, I would want to take my kayak, a camera, and a friend. Nothing beats that combo.
Q: What is your secret skill or hidden talent?
A: When I was a kid, I grew up in an RV traveling in a Winnebago, and I was super into all the different Winnebagos that were out there. I knew every single floor plan of every single Winnebago model by heart, and I could tell which one and what year it was just by the configuration of the windows on the outside. So, driving down the highway, I feel like other kids played the License Plate Game, the State Game, and stuff like that, but I was playing the Winnebago RV Game and trying to see how many different floor plans and years I could see.
Q: Who is your ultimate mountain hero?
A: I have so many people who have inspired me and encouraged me to be the adventurer that I am today. Firstly, I’d say my parents. They got me started in the outdoors from a very young age, literally a couple weeks old, so they are definitely inspiring to all of my adventures. And then all of the amazing badass females who get out there and charge and show us what women are capable of. I always look up to all the powerful women in the outdoor industry.
Q: If you weren’t doing your go-to sport, what would you be doing instead?
A: In another life, if I weren’t a kayaker, I think I would definitely want to be a surfer and chase waves around the world on a surfboard instead of a kayak.
Q: What is the most epic thing you’ve done in the mountains so far?
A: Last winter, I ran a 30 -foot waterfall in Chile that was pretty scary and pretty special, and I’m pretty proud of that. I’d like to do more freefall because it’s pretty addicting and it’s a lot of fun.
Q: If you could give advice to someone new in your sport, what would it be?
A: For anyone who wants to get into kayaking, especially if they live in Colorado, I would say invest in warm equipment, a dry suit, fleece, and neoprene. Warm gear will make your experience a lot better and way more comfortable. Outside of that, specifically for freestyle, kayaking, video review helps a ton. I didn’t do that when I first got into it and I really wish I would have. I think if I would have done video review when I first started, I would have progressed a lot quicker, and it just really cool to be able to see how far I’ve come. Sometimes, sport can be frustrating, and you don’t see your progress that you’re making, and so being able to go back and view your video and see how far you’ve actually come is really important and can help keep the motivation going.
I think it’s also really important to remember for everyone, but especially women, that no dream is too big, as long as you’re willing to work hard and persevere. It might take more time than you expect, but anything is possible with a lot of hard work and determination.
Q: What is your favorite way to unwind after a big event?
A: My favorite way to relax and unwind after a competition is to go hang out with all my friends. Kayaking is so special because we all are a big family and we travel from competition to competition, event to event, and there’s no better way to celebrate or just unwind after a long day then going to dinner with your friends or ice cream or dancing the night away, whatever that might be.
I say that, but a lot of times I’m so tired that I end up going to bed early. So, more realistically, my favorite way to unwind after a long day of competing would be to go to sleep early. Which isn’t very exciting, but sometimes it’s really needed.
Q: What would your dream mountain adventure look like?
A: My dream mountain experience already happened this winter! I don’t think I’ll be able to top it, but I am sure am going to try. I got to paddle the Río Claro in Chile, which is this beautiful river with crystal clear water, a beautiful blue color, and there are all of these very unique waterfalls. It’s really hard to beat a day paddling in this really narrow, beautiful canyon with some of your really good friends. So if I could do anything, I’d go back to that, but I’m sure there has to be something that’s better than the Río Claro. I don’t know what it is, but I’ll keep looking! Until then, I’ll keep revisiting the Río Claro.
Q: What made you fall in love with your sport?
A: For me, falling in love with kayaking didn’t come easy. I started when I was four and I was scared of the water. I didn’t like swimming, I didn’t like to get my head wet, so kayaking wasn’t my favorite thing. But I persevered, and by the time I turned 11, I was a much better swimmer, I was a lot more confident, and I saw all of my friends having so much fun in the river and in their kayaks, and I wanted to do that, too. So I pushed past my fears, I got comfortable flipping and rolling back upright in whitewater, and that whole experience of pushing myself past my fears is what made me fall in love with the sport. I think it’s so cool to be able to push past mental barriers, to meet incredible people, to go to these beautiful places. Kayaking kind of has it all, and it’s hard not to love it. And I really love being able to see my reflection through the river, and to challenge and push myself as a human, as an athlete, and as an adventurer, with some of my best friends and in some of the most beautiful places in the whole world.
Q: What makes the Mountain Games so special?
A: The GoPro Mountain Games is a really special event because you have athletes from all around the world and so many different disciplines of sports gathering in one place for one weekend of adventure and competition. It’s just such an exciting atmosphere. In addition to that, you have people traveling from all around the world for the music, for the events, as spectators, as athletes. It’s just this really cool collection of amazing people who love the outdoors and one place at one time. It really feels like a big celebration. It’s hard to beat the stoke of the GoPro Mountain Games.
Q: What are you looking forward to at this year’s Mountain Games?
A: I am so excited for the 2025 GoPro Mountain Games! It’s really exciting because we have the Athlete Team for the first time ever, and I’m so excited to hang out with all the incredible athletes on the Athlete Team as well as competing in my kayak events. It’s always exciting. I’m actually flying back from Germany just for the Mountain Games because it’s that much of a highlight of my year every year, and I’m just so excited for everything, but especially hanging out with the other athletes.
Q: If you had a tagline for yourself, what would it be?
A: All of my social media usernames are “Adventurous.Miss” and I feel like that really embodies who I am as a person. I love adventure, whether that’s on the river, in the mountains, or both, or just traveling around the world. It’s hard to beat a good adventure.
Share this Story:
