DEI Resources for Climbers
Affinity Groups and Community Partners:
The following affinity groups and community partners are just a small subset of the many resources helping to make climbing and the outdoors more welcoming and equitable. Let us know who we missed.
Adaptive Adventures | Adaptive Climbing Group | Black Climbers Collective | The Black Outdoors | Black Outside | Brown Environmentalist | The Brown Ascenders | Brown Girls Climb | Brothers of Climbing | Catalyst sports | Chicago Adventure Therapy | Chicks Climbing and Skiing | Climbers of Color | Crux Climbing | Diversify Outdoors | Duke Adaptive Climbing | Earthtone Outside | Flash Foxy | G.L.A.M Climb of Texas | Green Latinos | Hazel Foundation for Athletics | HomoClimbtastic | The Joy Trip Project | Ladies Climbing Coalition | Lady Crvsh Crew | Latinos Outdoors | Melanin Base Camp | Natives Outdoors | Native Women's Wilderness | Outdoor Afro | Outdoor Asian | OUT There Adventures | Outdoor Women's Alliance | Paradox Sports | Peak Explorations | Queer Climbing Collective | Queer Crush | Queer Nature | ROMP | Sending in Color | She Moves Mountains | Soul Ascension Crew | Texas Lady Crushers | TranSending 7 | Venture Out Project | Wild Diversity | Young Women Who Crush
Books:
The Adventure Gap by James Edward Mills
The Ascent of Denali by Hudson Stuck
(Including the original diary of Walter Harper, Native Alaskan and first man to achieve Denali’s summit)
Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors by Carolyn Finney
Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry edited by Camille T. Dungy
Black Woman in Green: Gloria Brown and the Unmarked Trail to Forest Service Leadership by Gloria D. Brown & Donna L. Sinclair
The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature by J. Drew Lanham
A Negro Explorer at the North Pole by Matthew A. Henson
Rooted in the Earth: Reclaiming the African American Environmental Heritage by Dianne D. Glave
Walter Harper, Alaska Native Son by Mary F. Ehrlander
*find more books on this list: Black Indigenous People of Color in the Outdoors
Honouring High Places: The Mountain Life of Junko Tabei by Junko Tabei and Helen Y. Rolfe
Climbing Free by Lynn Hill
Annapurna, a Woman’s Place by Arlene Blum
*find more books on this list: Women in the Outdoors
Touching My Father’s Soul: A Sherpa’s Journey to the Top of Everest by Jamling T. Norgay
Hero of Everest: A Biography of Tenzing Norgay by Ed Douglas
Sherpa: The Memoir of Ang Tharkay by Ang Tharkay
*find more books on this list: Sherpa Biographies & Memoirs
Articles:
You Can’t Be What You Can’t See
Rock & Ice, June 2020
Anti-Racism Resources for Climbers
Climbing, June 2020
Redpointing Anti-Racism
Rock & Ice, June 2020
Kai Lightner: Open Your Eyes to The Reality of Black Lives
Rock & Ice, June 2020
LGBTQ+ Adventurers, In Their Own Words
REI Co-Op Journal, June 2019
Being Nikki Smith
Outside Online, April 2019
Native Senders, Native Defenders
AAC Guidebook to Membership, 2018
Everyone’s Land
AAC Guidebook to Membership, 2018
Changing Faces
AAC Guidebook to Membership, 2018
Interview: Lonnie Kauk on “Magic Line” (5.14c R)
Rock and Ice, November 2018
Summiting at 17,000 Feet: My Climb of Kilimanjaro with Outdoor Afro
REI Co-Op Journal, October 2018
How LGBTQ people are breaking down barriers to take on the great outdoors
Mashable, October 2018
Erin Parisi Is a Pioneer for Transgender Mountaineers
Outside Online, October 2018
Transitions: The Many Lives of Jamie Logan
Climbing, September 2018
Out from the Shadows: Sexual Harassment and Assault in Climbing Communities
Alpinist, August 2018
Sacred Native American Sites Are Not Your Playgrounds
Outside Online, July 2018
Meet the Native American Climber Restoring Indigenous Place Names
Adventure Journal, June 2018
Generation 5.16: Ashima Shiraishi
Climbing Magazine, April 2018
Kai Lightner’s Journey to the Top
REI Co-Op Journal, March 2018
Jimmy Chin: What I’ve Learned
Rock and Ice Magazine, February 2018
Are LGBT Folks Represented in the Outdoors?
Colorado Public Radio, January 2018
Conversation with Sophia Danenberg
Melanin Basecamp, January 2018
Five Ways to Make the Outdoors More Inclusive
The Atlantic/REI, 2018
No Man’s Land: The Rise of Women in Climbing
Climbing, October 2017
Out on a Ledge: The Sisterhood of the Rope
Climbing, October 2017
The Power of Sisterhood - Women’s Climbing Festivals, Clinics and Resources
Rock and Ice, August 2017
Brown Girls #ColorTheCrag and Go Climbing
Sierra, May 2017
Within Reach: A Documentary About Women’s Equality in Climbing
Climbing, May 2017
All African-American Team Takes on Denali – Why It Matters
National Geographic Magazine, May 2013
Wired - Exploring The Adventure Gap
Alpinist Magazine, January 2012
Films Available to Stream (list in progress):
The People of Color (2019)
Finding Common Ground (2019): Part 1: Climber x Hunter / Part 2: Wheeler x Biker / Part 3: Kayaker x Angler
Project Wild Women (2018)
REI Presents: Brothers of Climbing (2017)
An American Ascent (2014)
*We are always looking for recommendations. If you have some, please email climbunited@americanalpineclub.org
Photo: AAC member Irene Yee