Urban Core Climbing staff are supportive and encouraging. We believe deeply in the power of adventure and exploration to enrich and guide lives. It is our task to make that experience happen in constructive and nourishing ways. Our climbing staff are more than just guides –they are role models. All are mature, outgoing and committed to the Urban Core Climbing purpose. We strive to show compassion and integrity in our daily lives and thread it throughout our coaching. In our unique teaching style, we hope to inspire our future leaders to make decisions that come from their hearts as well as their minds.
All staff members have First Aid/CPR certification and our senior guide has college degrees in education, and is certified by the AMGA and Wilderness First Responders.
Head Coach
Emily Taylor is an educator, facilitator, competitive climber, and professional coach. She started climbing in 1996 on a 2 month multi-adventure Outward Bound course in Colorado. Immediately after her first experience, she began to study the process of competitive sport climbing and found her niche teaching children. On Oct. 8, 2003, Emily set out to be the first black woman to climb the largest monolith in North America by the most famous 
direct route, the Nose of EL Capitan, in Yosemite California.
Formally ranked #1 Advanced Adult Female in USA Climbing, Emily now coaches four youth climbing teams in the metro Atlanta area, as well as students in seven states across the US. She dedicates her teaching, studies and learning experiences to diversifying the climbing community. She has established long lasting, safe and holistic programs that support the needs of her clients and students. Her coaching style is personal, compassionate, boldly expressive, and unique. She fulfills the coaching role to motivate, educate, and teach self-discipline, responsibility and accountability. Her teaching focuses on mental, emotional, and physical awareness, and on proper technique, and efficiency.
Emily is a new proud mother of daughter, Milo Quinn. She lives in Atlanta, GA
Assistant Coache
Robert “Big Red” Henry started climbing with guide book in hand, rope and equipment on his back and father by his side outdoors when he was eleven years old. Soon after his first outdoor experience and attending a Urban Core Climbing Training Camp, he joined the 
Competitive Training Team in 2005. He is ranked the current USA Climbing Divisional Champion in speed and sport climbing. Robert has coached our budding youth climbers on teams and summer camps for two years. He has an incredibly natural gift of teaching children and helping them feel at safe and at ease with the learning process.
He is a student at Georgia State University and active in comedy improv theatre.
