Calling All Climbers of Color

I see some reference to indoor climbing gyms being diverse in many areas....I agree that there have been many people of color active in these gyms. But they seem to treat the activity as they would any workout in a general health club. They still are not transferring the climbing learned to the outdoors. Where are the big numbers of black gym climbers out on the cliffs? They are not, with many reasons why mentioned in many lengthy paragraphs above. If it just isn't in your nature, your blood to be an outdoor adventure kind of person, you may never choosse to do so.

A good percentage of my friends in Vegas happen to be black; African Americans, Nigerians, and a few friends from Trinidad . My friends are from all walks of life- from the poorest, and most streetwise who grew up in crime ridden areas of inner cities , to ones raised farming on their family compound in Nigeria, to ones raised "country" in the deep south, to the highly educated, and privileged. When I've discussed climbing with my black friends, and invited them out, a common response has been that black people just don't do that. It's further stressed to me, in a humorous way, that they don't hike, climb, or swim, and don't like the cold. Some mentioned that they grew up doing hard labor outside, and were sick of being exposed to the elements. As they laugh at the thought of participating in such outdoor activities for "fun", I'm often asked if I see black people out in the places I go hiking, climbing, or camping. When I tell them that I have seen some black folks out hiking, some of whom are my black friends who were introduced to it at some point in their life, (Of course I don't mention that it's a rare sight from my experiences), they seem to be in disbelief.

The black friends of mine who I was able to get somewhat interested in getting out seemed to get a lot of pressure from their families to NOT participate in crazy outdoor activities in remote areas that mostly white folks do. Some have even said that mountains, and remote areas where these outdoor activities might take them are unsafe for black people; full of rednecks, and folks that don't like black people, and so on.

With that being said, I was fortunate that a good friend of mine from Trinidad, her kids, and a streetwise African American inner city guy friend of hers did finally come out hiking with me. They had a good time, and were surprised how much they enjoyed the peaceful , and beautiful nature outdoors, and were amazed that there's so many interesting things to see. My friend said her kids kept bugging her several times to call me to go hiking again. She continued hiking with me on various day hikes, and actually takes a few of her friends of color out hiking now; many who have never been in the great outdoors, although she says she gets quite a few cancellations on planned hikes with black friends.

Re: outdoor climbing- I was able to interest a few of my black friends into at least trying it, but after A LOT of pressure from their families, and friends within their close knit community, they cancelled coming out after making arrangements with me.

I've always tried to introduce not only my black friends, but all my city friends of all races to get outdoors. Most seem afraid of snakes, dirt, bugs, and wild animals as a reason to not partake in my adventures, but that's a "whole nother ball game." : )

Ian your apology is unnecessary but graciously accepted. You and I disagree very little and to that point my concentration on African-Americans is most likely a product of my own experience. There is also the general observation by myself and others that blacks have the lowest rate of participation among all other ethnic groups. I believe that we can make the outdoors more attractive and accessible to those least likely to spend time outside by extension we can make the outdoors more attractive and accessible to everyone.

James,
Some of your comments and others' comments got me thinking. In general I worry about the effectiveness of outdoor programs strictly for kids of color. If a person agrees that there is a stigma among people of color against going outdoors for recreation or engaging in "mountain sports" then the liklihood that a kid is going to continue to be able to go outside once the trip, or group or *whatever* ends is pretty small in my opinion. Your parents and friends think you're crazy for even wanting to do it and now you have to ask for a ride or try and talk someone into to going with you so you have a partner. Sound probable? I'm not saying there wouldn't be strong personalities that would persist-- I'm sure you're an example of that. But if we're talking about a game changer here I don't think that's the approach to go with.

On the other hand if you introduce an entire family to a sport and they enjoy it then it seems much more likely they'll continue with it after the initial program. The down side to this is I'm not sure I'd take my whole nuclear family multipitch trad climbing altogether. For me at least its a different thing when/if that deathblock whizzes by the wife, kid AND I instead of just whizzing by my partner and I. YMMV.

--Wannabe

I was at the gym again today and decided to ask a few of my friends if they had any climbing trips planned for the spring. Both of the black climbers I asked have plans for trips to Europe, and one of them happens to be a very accomplished ice climber.

James, I have no idea how different in really is here, but in my simple observation, there are more climbers of colour here than in many places in the US. Maybe it is worth looking into this further? I'd be interested to help, or at least to hear about anything information that you find.

Also, I thought I'd add something else that my wife and I were talking about tonight. The level of participation of African Americans in baseball has plummeted over the last two decades. Why is that? Are the reasons the same as why we see so few black people climbing?

Finally, the participation levels of African Americans in golf has risen a lot in the last 10-15 years as a direct result of active programming to introduce the sport to young black people. Is this something that is being done with climbing - or something that could be done?

Ugh, my first amendment rights have been violated! Fucken moderators….

Wannabe,
Your points are well taken and I couldn't agree with you more. On several occasions when I've been involved in get-kids-outside programs I am often struck by how ineffectual a single outdoor experience can be to a low income child with limited parental encouragement. How likely would that kid be to have a repeat or ongoing experience in nature without the necessary equipment or financial resources. Most programs don't necessarily target only children of color. It just so happens that most poor kids in this country happen to be black or Hispanic. I agree that in order to create a sustainable relationship with the natural world it's best to help adults within minority communities to work with the young people around them to create multiple experiences whose impact will be longer lasting. In an interview the author of "The Last Child in the Woods" Richard Louv told me, "You're almost doing a kid a disservice by taking him to Yosemite once."It's not enough to sow the seed in a child's mind. You to nurture it and help it grow.

Hello everyone my name is Marcus I am kinda new to climbing, I have been climbing on the regular for about 1.5yrs now, I am a solid 5.11 lead climber and just starting to get into trad climbing, I also ice climbed a few times.. ohhh and I'm black. I love the sport of rock climbing. I feel it is one of the best things to ever happen to me. I don't feel climbing has a race.. yes mostly white people climb but that is changing. I've seen Asians, whites and slowly people of color making their way to the wall/crag.
Have I ever felt uncomfortable at the climbing wall... to be honest yes. People look surprise when they see me leading a route and doing a pretty good job at it. It makes me laugh honestly. But it also drives me to get better and better.

James Mills wrote:If you're an African-American mountaineer with vertical ice climbing experience I have an opportunity to share. A casting agent is looking for black climbers (18 to 45) to appear in a national television commercial. Please reply to this post if you're interested or know someone who might be for details. At the risk of starting another heated discussion in this forum on the issue of race and mountaineering I'll ask that you please first read my recent story in Alpinist Magazine: alpinist.com/doc/ALP40/40-w… Thanks!

I would be interested in the opportunity. I have ice climbed before and rock climb indoor (3X) week, outdoor climb when possible (I live in Detroit) please let me know of any opportunities or anything I can do to further diversity in climbing.
Marcus Rivers
email marcus6515@gmail.com
facebook : m.facebook.com/marcus.river…

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who participated in the discussion way back in January. I'm please say that the producers of the commercial found a black climber to appear in this TV ad. Check it out and let me know what you think: http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7I_e/coors-light-v-spot-mountain-climbing

James Mills wrote:Check it out and let me know what you think: http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7I_e/coors-light-v-spot-mountain-climbing

The link is broken.

Dude, that was excellent. I might add that I'm the one that got Mr. Ken in the commercial hooked up with this thread. See, spending hours on climbing forums is good for something. Ha ha ha.

James Mills,

Thanks for sharing, this is the most interesting article I've ever read on Mproj. I forwarded it to a bunch of folks in academia, there's a Ph.D. dissertation in there somewhere in there waiting to be fleshed out.

I wonder if the OP casting call was for those Coors commercials that I keep hearing about.

David Lucander

I like this video better:

ukclimbing.com/news/item.ph…

I don't understand why they had to be a climber? Wouldn't any black person been okay.... Dont understand why you would need climbing experience to be in that commercial.

This thread got me thinking.

I don't think I've ever seen a black person ice climbing, mountaineering, or backcountry skiing. (Not one, ever.)

Years ago, (early 1990's) I took some black boy scouts climbing in the Gunks, and the rangers tried to kick us out because we were a "group," in spite of the fact that there were tons of other groups at the crags. The only difference between our group and the other groups that I could see was that our group was mostly black kids, while the other groups were mostly white adults. Pissed me off. I got in their face, and they relented, but it sucked having the boys know that they weren't welcome. Hope it wouldn't happen today.

At NOLS we are working to increase diversity in the Outdoors!

Expedition Denali is the first predominantly African-American climb of North America’s tallest peak and will take place on the 100th anniversary of Denali’s first ascent this June. The expedition and the subsequent outreach efforts will inspire a legacy of increased diversity in the outdoors, starting with today’s youth.

This NOLS expedition, with support from The North Face, REI, and the Foundation for Youth Investment, will happen. How many people know about it—how far their inspiration and awareness reaches—is another question.

This is where we need your help.

kickstarter.com/projects/67…

Early in this thread I stated that the only reason Coors wanted a black person in the commercial was because they wanted to market to the black population. I didn't think it had anything to do with diversifying the sport of climbing, even if some people thought that might be a positive side-effect of the commercial.

After seeing the final product, I'm actually a little disappointed in how right I really was.

Coors didn't want a black climber to climb...they just wanted a black person to zipline from a mountain into a club where Ice Cube was throwing a bash for all his black buddies. You can't get any more stereotypically "black" than a bunch of black people listening to Ice Cube.

Compare this to the "white" version of their commercial

youtube.com/watch?v=RCJA0en…

which, like any other "white" commercial, has a token black guy thrown in with that "what am I doing with all these white people" look:

Coors Diversity

James, I'm really interested to hear what your opinion of the commercial is...

Ian, Thanks for pointing out the black guy in the original commercial. I've had that look on my face more than once. I hope I didn't give you or anyone else the impression that Coors Light has any interest in diversifying the sport of climbing. You're right, they just want to sell black people more beer. As for the commercial itself I'm pretty sure Ice Cube wasn't throwing a party for his black buddies. It looks more like a concert where most of the people in the audience are black. My guess is there was a white guy tucked in there wondering what he's doing with all these black folks.

The point I'll make is merely this Coors made an effort toward equity in creating similar branding messages to appeal separately to black and white audiences using real climbers, not actors. In the past they might have deferred instead to a climbing scene for white audiences and an urban scene for blacks featuring a sport like football or basketball instead. As a person of color and a climber I just think it's cool that they at least took the time to find a black climber, fly him to Alaska and pay him SAG rate to appear in national TV commercial. That's a first for me and a sign of progress in the right direction

Eric, they needed a climber specifically because the filming required someone not afraid of heights. They couldn't invest millions of dollars only to find out their talent couldn't climb or zip line at great heights.

The scenes may look tame to all of the seasoned climbers here, but Ken was reaching some very high speeds on the zip line. They said about 35mph.

Ken is a very friendly guy, and I can't think of anyone better to have gotten this chance.

People will always get political about things, but I think the commercial is pretty cool and Ice Cube is a bad mother fucker. It's just a commercial, and you can never please everyone.