The Untimely Loss of Filipino Climber and Influencer Emman Atienza
Every January, we share a tribute to members of our community who we lost last year. Some were legends, others were pillars of their community, all were climbers. Read the full tribute to Climbers We Lost in 2025 here.
Emman Atienza, 19, October 22
Emmanuelle “Emman” Atienza was a social media personality and mental health advocate with a deep passion for climbing.
Born on February 8, 2006, Atienza grew up in Manila in the Philippines. Her father, Kim Atienza, is a well-known Filipino TV personality. As a teenager, she began posting about her life, travels, and style on Instagram and TikTok, acquiring large followings.
As a content creator, she posted frequently about her struggles with mental health. In 2022, she founded Mentality Manila, a youth-led organization focused on removing the stigma from dealing with mental health issues. The organization is no longer active.
Olympic speed climber Sam Watson, who met Atienza on Instagram, remembers helping introduce her to climbing in 2024. On a visit with her in Manila, they went to the gym together, and Atienza caught on quickly. It wasn’t long before she began getting really into bouldering, both indoors and out.
“She did ballet and dance. She could go and solve problems on the wall. She got better so fast,” Watson recalls. “She just absolutely fell in love with it. She was like, ‘This is the best sport ever. I’ve never been in a community that’s been as positive.’”
One of Atienza’s former friends and frequent climbing partner, Zhab Cunanan, says that Atienza brought an enthusiastic, supportive energy to their gym, The Bouldering Hive in Manila. Cunanan recalls that she’d always be the type of person to encourage someone with an “allez” or “you got this.”
“I’m pretty sure with every new move she landed and every new grade she unlocked it felt so rewarding for her,” Cunanan says. “Her dedication to climbing was something that I wasn’t surprised by but rather always mesmerized by. She really was that passionate about climbing.”
Atienza started a dedicated climbing Instagram account, and regularly posted about her experiences being a woman in the sport. She posted about eating disorders and misogyny in the gym, along with documenting her progress and training.
For Watson, who dated Atienza for a period of time, she also served as a positive model of how to be a public figure. When they met, Watson was coming off the 2024 Paris Olympics, and still figuring out how to navigate that level of notoriety, and as a teenager no less. “This person did have a lot of positive contributions to my life. That navigation of fame, notoriety … She helped me through that. She was in that world,” he explains.
Atienza had moved to Santa Monica, California in August 2025. As a mental health advocate, she planned on pursuing a degree in psychology at the University of Southern California or the University of California – Los Angeles. Watson says that she had wanted to bring mental health resources to children in the Philippines. Tragically, Atienza died by suicide on October 22, 2025.
Cunanan remembers Atienza as “a ball of sunshine,” who inspired her to climb outside of her own comfort zone, too. “She was such a generous and caring person, even at times that it seemed like the world was turning upside down for her,” Cuanan says. “Her biggest philosophy that I was able to bring with me was to always be authentically yourself and to move with kindness.”
Read the full tribute to Climbers We Lost in 2025 here.
The post The Untimely Loss of Filipino Climber and Influencer Emman Atienza appeared first on Climbing.