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