ClimbOut was formed by a group of like-minded, climbing-obsessed volunteers who have come together to make climbing more diverse, empowering and accessible.
Here are our core values and what they mean to us.
Diversity
Outdoor climbing is not a very diverse space, it is predominantly white, heteronormative, and male-dominated, which does not come across as a very welcoming space to people who don’t fit that demographic.
By creating this event we aim to highlight the existing queer diversity within the outdoor climbing community as well as welcome other LGBTQ+ folk to join.
We aspire to take an intersectional approach and have a diversity of queer identities present, that is representative of the LGBTQ+ community.
Empowerment
Getting started in the world of outdoor climbing, or taking positions of leadership within it can be very daunting especially for members of the LGBTQ+ community who don’t often see themselves represented in these spaces.
We believe that this event will empower queer people to get into the outdoor climbing world, pursue leadership positions or careers in outdoor climbing, and become role models to future queer climbers.
Accessibility
Outdoor climbing can be very inaccessible, it requires skills, knowledge, and equipment; and getting started is usually expensive.
Furthermore members of the LGBTQ+ community often face further challenges to participate in climbing, e.g. systemic discrimination, or feeling like they can’t be their true selves in conventional outdoor climbing spaces.
We aim to make outdoor climbing accessible to everyone, providing opportunities to learn the necessary skills, borrow equipment, and offer financial bursaries to those who need it.