When I think about history, I think about impact. In climbing, impact has been traditionally measured by first ascents and record speeds. Names like John Gill and Lynn Hill always come up. These climbers have made significant impact and provided significant contributions to climbing but so have many many more that continue to go unrecognized. Those whose stories seemed to have been lost in our skewed history of the greats. What is not always examined are the names of individuals like Chelsea Griffie, Emily Taylor, and Miho Aida, who have inspired so many people to enter the sport, through their personal relationship with climbing and advocacy work. Their impact has reached far beyond the measurable.. The history of climbing is more than a record of a bunch of guys bagging peaks. Our history goes back ages. Contributions of people of color in the outdoors tends to get ignored or overlooked in popular media and this disproportionate coverage, fails to document the lives, stories, and accomplishments of some of the most influential athletes and advocates among us. Thanks to authors and influencers like James Mills and the the folks from Melanin Base Camp, the history of people of color in climbing and many other activities are now being celebrated by individuals and communities around the nation.
Brown Girls Climb’s mission includes elevating the voices and experiences of self-identified women of color in rock climbing. In order to do this though, we must look back at the women who have come before us. The women who, in spite of being ‘the only’, continued to climb on.
Last summer, Brown Girls Climb partnered with REI and The Brown Ascenders to celebrate three unique voices of Yosemite valley that have significantly influenced climbing participation, recreation, and advocacy today.
-Chelsea Griffie-
We we were so excited to open our series with the Munoz sisters who shared a land acknowledgement recognizing the local tribes in the area. We kicked off the event with climbing legend, Chelsea Griffie. As a woman of color in the outdoors meeting Chelsea, is like meeting another person who likes the X-files. You automatically bond by the fact that you’re both sci fi nerds and even though you don’t know the other person, you know you’d get along. Admiration develops.
Chelsea is known her for being the first documented African American woman to summit El Capitan in 2001. She’s inviting and casual. She’s the type of climbing partner everyone wants. Relaxed, funny, and psyched on life. We were thrilled to have her open our series. Alongside our friends, we celebrated her achievements, heard more about her experience as a woman of color climber, and also learned a little know fact about her! Our good friend Diego Gamez also joined us by capturing the night, adding just a few more photos into the history log!
We ended our night with amazing raffle prizes by Patagonia, American Alpine Club, Organic Climbing and Evolv. Chelsea chose to donate the funds to Balanced Rock, an organization which provides the only women of color backpacking trip in the country.
-Emily Taylor-
In August, we welcomed Emily Taylor as our second speaker of the three part series. As the owner and leader of Taylored Fit Solutions and Experiential Life, LLC, Emily Taylor provides personalized coaching, climbing training and individual training programs for climbing athletes throughout the United States. In 2003, she set out to be the first black woman summit and El Capitan and The Nose before her 30th birthday. Emily’s charisma for her work with youth athletes of color is infectious. She’s driven and passionate. She shared her experience and knowledge as a woman of color in the climbing community throughout the years and the barriers she’s faced along the way. Emily continues to pave the way for Black and Brown women in climbing through her coaching, mentorship, and entrepreneurship. Emily dedicated her raffle donations to her new program called Brown Girls Climbing, which develops and trains girls of color to successfully enter the competitive climbing world. Saki Cake, a photographer based out of the Bay area, provided dynamic shots of Emily and the rest of the night!
-Miho Aida-
In September, Miho Aida joined us for our last event of the 2018 Voices from the Valley series. Sháán Díín Cedar opened the event, speaking on behalf of Natives Outdoors. Miho, originally from Tokyo, Japan, is an environmental media artist, educator, and outdoor adventurer in California. She is recognized for her inspirational project called “If She Can Do It, You Can Too: Empowering Women Through Outdoor Role Models” which includes her first short film, “The Sacred Place Where Life Begins – Gwich’in Women Speak.” This project, like so much of Miho’s work, is dedicated to promoting the representation of diverse women pursuing outdoor adventures and who develop powerful social, environmental and human rights movements within the backdrop of nature. With this project, Miho hopes for all girls to have outdoor and environmental role models who look, sound and live like them so that they know what careers, adventures and leadership opportunities are possible.In her talk, Miho discussed these projects in addition to her journey to her love for climbing, which she deconstructed into three main categories: acceptance, resilience, and resistance. She encounters women who have acted as role models along her journey who she gives credit to for where she is today. Miho also talked about the importance of working with allies/accomplices who, generally, have resources that are essential to the success of our mission, and explored the idea of accessibility (or lack thereof) to participate in outdoor sports or visit these spaces for marginalized communities. Following her presentation, we shuffled the chairs into a circle to hold an informal Q&A and group discussion. This was also a great opportunity for folks to sample some of the Red Bean Chilli prepared by Patagonia Provisions and buy raffle tickets. Raffle proceeds went to The Gwich’in Steering Committee. The event was photographed by Michael Estrada.
Voices from the Valley was an incredible night made possible by incredible people. It was a sliver of celebration for what should be parades of achievements by women of color who have been climbing all of their lives, the greats unknown and the ones who continue to climb. They have provided a small portal for entire generations to peek through and to see the past and future. This generation of women of color can now reach through that portal and see glimpses of their ancestors climbing and exploring. We’re gaining new perspective about how strong we really are as a community and where we want to go. I’m excited to see where the trail takes us.
Brown Girls Climb is excited to continue this series this year in Washington, D.C.! Want to join us? Check us out at the next event where we will be hearing from Kareemah Batts, Abby Dione, and Margarita Martinez!
Voices from the Valley REI Washington D.C. 201 M St NE Washington, DC 20002 6:30pm-8:30pm Event details & registration
Authors: Jael Berger & Bethany Lebewitz
