A Climber We Lost: Elyse Dominica “Tiger Pussy” Parcell
You can read the full tribute to Climbers We Lost in 2023 here.
Elyse Dominica Parcell, 31, November 15
Elyse’s climbing career began in 2012 among the splitter cracks of Indian Creek. These were the days when campsites were free, shitters were limited, and Creeksgiving was never crowded. She started out with a large group of Fort Lewis College kids who became the Peter Pans of the red walls. The desert was a magical place that captured Elyses mind and soul. We were all addicted, and Elyse was no exception, as we took our first whippers on placed gear, perfected tape crack gloves, glorified our gobis, used climbing chalk as deodorant, and spent as many days as possible out in the desertscape before running out of water. Desert days were spent howling at the moon, climbing naked, being wild, being free. After a long halloween weekend of wearing wigs, bright colored spandex, an FA, and scraping our skin against the red sandstone of the creek, Elyse was baptized as “Tiger Pussy.” Not a nickname given by friends in typical fashion, but a self-given title that proclaimed her bold, wild, and humorous essence. Many of us enjoy donning a costume and stepping into a persona, a brief and joyful respite from the everyday personalities in which we live most of our lives. For Elyse it was the opposite; as she stepped into being Tiger Pussy, she stepped out of persona and into authenticity. Vibrant, weird, playful, and unabashedly unconventional. She lived up to her new moniker in immaculate style; complete with nipple pasties, tiger-striped spandex, wigs and the quintessential cat ears. Indian Creek has long served as a coming-of-age place for climbers, but it was especially true for Elyse. She was a natural at finger cracks and progressed quickly, in part because she spent all of her free time there.
As time went on, Elyse’s love for Utah’s eastern desert grew. Elyse spent her winters ski-patrolling in Telluride and heli-skiing in Alaska, but in her off-season she essentially lived on the rivers and sandstone walls of Southern Utah. In true dirtbag style, she lived in a beat down 1980s RV (a hand-me-down from her grandparents) on a property in Moab. She spruced it up with a garden, outdoor shower, and the woody on which she trained for sport climbing. She designed it herself and built it herself, pouring the cement and placing hundred-pound support beams—all with her own woman power. She made her little corner of the world special for her and her friends. Every fall she rented a portapotty so all her dirtbag friends could come crash in her driveway or the “she-shed” for the climbing season. Her pristine garden driveway and iconic RV were the scene of countless good times.
She spent her days pulling on sandstone and smoking spliffs while blaring Lizzo, T Swift, and Rihanna and wearing her matching pink harness, helmet, and quickdraws. She wore tiger leggings not as a costume, but just as her everyday attire, and for a long time she rocked a shaggy pink mullet. The RV was often littered with sequin bell bottoms, tinsel skirts, and leopard print jumpsuits. She lit up the world with her eccentric magical self. Elyse was a whole vibe in herself.
Elyse loved the desert so much that on a climbing trip this last summer to Squamish, BC, she insisted on only climbing splitter cracks akin to the cracks in Indian creek, and then proceeded to dance up tiny finger cracks commenting on how it was nice to have footholds in the granite instead of the smooth holdless sandstone. She smiled and laughed easily on that trip after a long summer dedicated to helping a friend through hardship.
On her last trip to Indian Creek she danced up Puma, thrutched up Purple Haze, and belly laughed/snorted up her favorite, Top Sirloin. Looking out over the expansive view at Cave Wall, she pointed out where the Colorado River cut through Canyonlands and where Davis Canyon Road wound through the sandstone valleys and hoodoos. Elyse knew the desert country like the back of her hand and held it in her heart. She loved climbing in this place that was so special to her, and she loved sharing it with her friends. To her, climbing was an avenue for friendships forged in glitter, tiger spandex, gobis, and sand. Connecting us all to her spirit still, is the desert southwest.
Elyse was a unicorn of a climbing partner. She knew how to provide encouragement without applying pressure. She was the kind of partner who would be genuinely happy for you if you onsighted her longtime project. She climbed with extreme intensity and grit, moving fluidly and making perfect came placements, but did not get her self worth from it. She transcended ego-based climbing. The energy she brought to the experience was pure, and climbing with her was a joy.
Elyse Parcell passed away peacefully on November 15, 2023, due to injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident on November 9 near Telluride, Colorado. She was 31. As a sixth generation Silverton and Durango native, her love for this region took the forms of skiing backcountry lines, climbing splitter cracks, and rafting white waters. She is survived by all of the communities that she served, including Telluride, Silverton, Moab, and Durango. As well as her Mother, Father, Aunt Jill, the Telluride Ski Patrol, Grand County SAR team, Moab OARs rafting crew, and countless friends across Southwest Colorado, Utah, and beyond.
—Kelsy Woodson-Dinnel
You can read the full tribute to Climbers We Lost in 2023 here.
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