Meet the Team

Who are we?

The team at City Summit are passionate climbers who have helped to develop the sport of climbing right here in Perth.   You can see some of our smiling faces above!

We love climbing and we want you to love it too.  Ask us anything about our sport and how to get involved.  We will be happy to help no matter what your age or climbing experience.

Damien Hall

Co-founder of both City Summit and Summit Climbing Walls, Damien is the champion managing the business and delivering on his commitment to increase the participation and profile of rock climbing in WA.  In his limited downtime, Damien enjoys the lifestyle that climbing gives and has climbed extensively through Western Australia, the Arapiles and Grampians in Victoria and abroad in Thailand and Italy.  Damien believes there is no better feeling knowing it is just you, your gear and your placements and the rock.

Nigel Ray

Co-founder of City Summit and Summit Climbing Walls, Nigel is the technical genius behind both brands and has been huge part of shaping the community of climbers in Perth. You can either find him glued to his computer designing amazing purpose built climbing walls, onsite building them or out in nature climbing rock.

Jordan Grey

Jordan is our Centre Manager who has been at City Summit for five years pursuing his passion for developing the professional industry side of rock climbing in Australia. He has competed in both local and interstate competitions and loves climbing for mental and physical fitness.  Fontainebleau in France is a favourite climbing destination. Jodan’s climbing style is ‘lazy climbing’ with no wasted energy; referred to as the ‘Sultan of Slope’ and the ‘#betastud’.

Mike Borg-Costanzi

Borg is our Course Director and Climbing Instructor who has been a part of the team since 2013. While he did spend some of that time in England, we made him a permanent fixture when we sponsored him to come back. Borg started climbing at age 4 and loves the diversity that climbing offers “if I get bored of sport climbing there’s always trad, bouldering, ice climbing (not anywhere here),  indoors to outdoors, boulders to mountains…..tomorrow I may find myself pulling on plastic or climbing in a valley and sitting on a ledge that no human has ever touched!”  His favourite climbing is sport climbing on hard, bouldery, gymnastic moves across steep overhanging terrain.

Carmen Schoenjahn

Carmen has been instrumental in teaching our next generation of climbers.   You can find Carmen outdoors most weekends slacklining (she is a Slackline Australia Level 1 Instructor), orchid hunting, multiday hiking and of course rock climbing (her fav is multi pitching).   She has a thing for learning about knots, equipment, rigging, and anything bomber (everything is bomber).  The most rewarding thing she has experienced through teaching has been seeing how climbing has positively changed people’s self-confidence and the influence it has had on their everyday life; as it has on her own.  You can try to speak to Carmen in German or English although results do vary.

Claire Jay

Claire has been with City Summit for three years teaching courses and now developing the branding and marketing for the cafe.  She does a bit of everything in the business and does it well. As a climber she loves being outdoors and making the process fun; running up something easy and projecting something difficult.  She enjoys working hard on an outdoor climb, figuring out all the moves and then putting it all together at the end; enjoying the fluidity concentrating on what comes next and the sequence for the climb.   If you want to head outdoors, Claire loves taking newbies out to experience what outdoor climbing has to offer.  She loves climbing slab and anything with nice technical footwork.  When she is not climbing, you can find her eating ramen in a garden with cats.

Mitch Day

Mitch started climbing as a way to build strength but when we opened our gym around the corner from his home he became hopelessly consumed in the climbing life.  He manages route setting at the centre, keeping the walls fresh and making sure there is something for everyone to climb.  Mitch loves that climbing is a sport and a hobby and the versatility and freedom that climbing offers.  He also loves playing with ropes and gear in between working on his movement skills on the wall.  The wicked adventures, crazy characters, and incredible locations keep him coming back for more.  Ask him about his competition trials for swimming in the 2012 Olympics!  I hear he also likes cats.

Jamie Brander

Jamie is our Centre Supervisor and an original City Summit employee who has returned to us from extensive travel climbing around the world.  He is a huge fan of our climbing community and is proud to call our gym home.  Climbing for five years, Jamie has stayed in love with the sport thanks to the places it has taken him and the way it has helped him to push his own boundaries and develop himself and his abilities. His fondest climbing memory from the trip is being in Turkey climbing incredible limestone Tufa’s, gorging on Sunday gozleme breakfast and picking pomegranates straight from the tree.  He is known for his exceptional dress standards and eloquent facial hair.

David Barretto

Dave has been with us for the past five years in various roles. Since completing a degree in Sports Science and Personal Training, Dave has taken the aspect of climber training to the next level with our Summit Academy program. He has been a great role model and trainer to our Youth Climbers and motivated and challenged climbers to develop their technique and strength. When not on the rock, you can find Dave cutting up the dance floor.

Sam Dickson

Sam has been at City Summit since the beginning, instrumental as a Climbing Instructor setting the path for our kids and adult courses.  He taught the first Kids Club when there was only 8 participants – there is now 100, School Holiday Program and the original Skills & Techniques course.  Sam is now focussing on Summit Climbing Walls but can always be found at the gym doing something or helping someone.  He is all about the climbing community so its hard to get him away.  Sam loves the flow of climbing and focusses more on efficiency rather than difficulty.  He prefers ‘balancy’ climbs using small holds – or anything as far away from slopers as possible.  In his downtime he works as a Coastal / Marine Engineer and plays Ultimate Frisbee in the WA state side.  He is regularly a victim of ‘calf envy’.

Chantell Fourie

The majority of Chantell’s climbing experience is around Perth outdoors but her goal is to do multiday, multipitch climbs in as many different countries as she can. Deep water soloing, trad and ice climbing are all styles she would like to eventually specialise in. “Rock climbing really appeals to me because of the travel opportunities linked with climbing crags. It’s also a social sport so there is plenty of opportunities to make epic memories with my buddies!”  When not climbing you can find her hiking, kayaking, surfing or road tripping. Fun fact: Chantell canride the unicycle and likes to listen to jazz music.

Josh Damasco

Josh started climbing at City Summit as part of our Kids Club program and joined the team 3 years ago.  He is the Head Instructor for our Youth Development Squad and a floor staff member. Climbing started as a family activity before things started getting more serious.  Josh loves the mental challenge and social aspects of climbing. “Having a group of awesome people to climb with makes training and wanting to climb so easy.” His climbing style is more technical and static, but whatever the climb requires is how he will climb it. Josh is active in the competition circuit and is driven by the pressure of competition performance. His goal is to make the Australian Climbing Team and climb at the World Cup. His favourite climbing trip has been to the Blue Mountains.

Julian Dear

Julian has always been a passionate outdoorsman, spending his childhood hiking, climbing trees and camping. His love for climbing was sparked two years ago when he started doing climbing and abseiling as part of his studies at Avondale College and he has since completed a Cert III and Diploma in Outdoor Recreation. Julian loves all aspects of climbing but is a huge fan of bouldering. “This is probably due to the fact that I am blessed with a heavy-set frame, that doesn’t lend itself to big sport routes.”  Julian climbs because it combines two things he loves; a physical challenge and nature. He loves the natural high you get from sending something you thought was outside your ability and also sharing the passion of climbing with others.  Ask him about the time he hiked all 1003 kms of the Bibbulmun Track solo at age 18!

Cardin Lim-De Coster

Cardin has been competitively climbing since 2013 and was one of the first members of the Youth Climbing Program. He has gone on to become a Head Instructor for the Kids Club program and has been a member of the Summit Family for close to 7 years. Cardin’s hopes to continue his pursuit in helping the next generation of Young climbers locally at a State level and hopefully one day at a National Level. Cardin loves to climb outdoors and he would love climbing to take him around the world with the close friends he has made within the climbing community.