Rock climbing in gyms has sky-rocketed in popularity across the United States. The industry grew at a rate of 11.87 percent in 2018, adding 50 climbing gyms across the country. The sport will for the first time be featured in the Olympics in 2020.
But in spite of its rapid expansion, the sport has not attracted as many communities of color. A recent study showed that 82-85% of all climbers were white (compare that rate to the general US population, where white people make up 60.4% of the population).
These resources were put together to help build a climbing community that supports people of color from all angles: we want to empower climbers of color who are just entering the sport or are looking to find affinity groups or other inclusive environments to feel more supported in their climbing ambitions; we want to give aspiring and current organizers to receive and exchange the resources necessary for them to build sustainable and growing affinity spaces or other inclusive climbing organizations, and we want to alleviate the burden of people of color in the climbing spaces to educate their environment by giving allies materials on diversity, equity and inclusion they can read and implement in their environments.
If there are resources you think should be on this page, please add them using this form.
This page was put together by Audrei and Lam (co-organizer of Try-Hard Crew), who love climbing and love the climbing community even more. We also had support from many people who are active in this field and are so grateful for the time, creativity and time they donated. Feel free to get in touch at tryhardcrewclimbing [at] gmail [dot] com.