Updates From Your Policy Team: The Climber's Advocacy Network

By Advocacy and Gov’t Affairs Manager, Amelia Howe

This article originally appeared in Summit Register 005.

Warming light near Sedona, AZ. Land of the Hohokam, Hopitutskwa, Yavapaiv Apache, and Jumanos peoples. AAC member Jeremiah Watt

At the American Alpine Club, it is no secret that the power of our policy and advocacy work is fueled by passionate climbers from across the country. They may be the policy chair of their local chapter, long-term AAC volunteers taking initiative to get involved in a climbing management plan, an AAC member flagging an issue happening at their local crag, or a climber hoping to learn how to create impact in their community. Regardless of who the individual may be or how they are connected to the Club, climbers are deeply engaged in policy and advocacy. We believe that change happens when everyday climbers unite around a shared cause and are positioned to advocate for the interests of their community. Therefore, over the past several months, the AAC policy department has been cultivating the inaugural Climbers’ Advocacy Network (CAN).

There has been a lot of impactful policy and advocacy work happening in AAC chapters across the country. We hope to be better allies of these individuals and provide them with the education and resources they need to be more effective in their local communities. To kickstart the program, we observed where this work was already happening and where volunteers were most excited to engage in policy and advocacy efforts. Through interviews with climbers and gathering data from our Annual Climber’s Survey, we landed on these initial hubs: California, Colorado, D.C., Georgia, New England, Utah, and Washington.

We are in the process of recruiting volunteer teams and creating a Climbers’ Advocacy Curriculum. This curriculum will enable our climbing advocate volunteers to enhance their policy and advocacy skillsets and ultimately take on projects in their local communities.

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The Ultimate Dream for the CAN:

Meadows in Yosemite National Park, CA. Land of the Me-Wuk and Numu peoples. AAC member Jeremiah Watt

+  Each AAC section and chapter has a CAN Chair or Policy Chair that will work closely with their local chapter, the AAC HQ, their local climbing organization, and other coalition partners to build conservation and climate capacity on a local level.

+  They will create campaign plans to address issues that matter most to climbers in their regions.

+  Campaigns + projects will be different from place to place because each community is unique and has its own strengths and weaknesses.

+  Projects could look like rallying climber support for a new Office of the Outdoors in your state or hosting voter registration nights at their local gym.

What ideas do you have for building local impact in your climbing community?

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From our office in Golden, we know that we don’t have adequate context to tell our members what issues they should care about in their communities. It is critical that we listen to folks on the ground to find out how to best support critical climate and conservation work across the country, and that’s where you come in. Do you live in one of our CAN kickoff states and want to get involved? Let us know here.

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Climber’s Advocacy Network Crag Tour

Stunning ambiance of Dead Horse Point, UT. Land of the Ute people. AAC member Jeremiah Watt

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Damon Yeh

CAN Hub: California

What are your local climbing spots?

I currently live in San Diego, CA, and you can usually find me at the Mesa Rim climbing gyms. On weekends, I try to make my way out to Joshua Tree NP, but if I only have a half-day free, Mt. Woodson is one of my favorite spots.

How would you describe your relationship with climbing?

Climbing has provided me with many opportunities and helped me build a lot of meaningful relationships. I am less interested in pushing grades. Rather, I find joy in exploring nature and hanging out with the people I care about.

If there was a book written about you and climbing, what would it be called?

“Never Too Proud to Top Rope!”

Are there any particular issues you think your region will be focused on at this point?

Shingo Ohkawa bouldering in Joshua Tree National Park, CA. Land of the Western Shoshone and Serrano peoples. AAC member Andrew Burr

There is a lot to cover in the state of California! Fifty-two percent of the state is public land, and the vast majority is federal land. I am most concerned about making sure everyone has equitable access to nature. Not everyone feels they have a place on our public lands or that they have a voice in how we manage them. My goal is to break down barriers for everyone to get more involved with our public lands.

Why should climbers in your region volunteer with you to build CAN Capacity?

Climbers should volunteer with me because I want everyone to have a seat at the table. California is a big state, and we need all hands on deck to build a sustainable and equitable future!

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Elliot Becker

CAN Hub: Washington D.C.

What are your local climbing spots?

I’m living in the Brookland neighborhood of Washington, D.C. My home crags are Seneca Rocks and the New River Gorge.

How would you describe your relationship with climbing?

I really love all aspects of climbing. While my favorite is long rock routes, the advent of COVID and the arrival of a new baby have turned me into a more dedicated boulderer of late.

Why are you excited to gain more advocacy and policy skills?

I’ve long taken the view that whatever you care about, you should organize to improve. I care a lot about climbing, so I want to do what I can to enhance the situation here. I’m particularly looking forward to increasing my ability to talk to elected leaders.

The New River Gorge. Land of the Moneton, Tutelo, Yuchi, and Shawandasse Tula peoples. AAC member Francois Lebeau

Are there any particular issue areas you think your region will be focused on at this point?

The D.C. area has a lot of people and not a lot of good rock, so we need to do what we can to improve and maintain access throughout the region. We need to be alert to any opportunities to expand access and any threats to access while also improving organization and infrastructure to support higher numbers.

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Reese Rogers

CAN Hub: Georgia

What are your local climbing spots?

I live in Decatur, GA, just east of Atlanta. I boulder at Boat Rock in Atlanta and enjoy the crags around Chattanooga like Tennessee Wall and Foster Falls. I also climb at Stone Summit gyms in the Atlanta area.

How would you describe your relationship with climbing?

For me, climbing is a way to experience landscapes from a new perspective and a reason to explore my local region and learn more about it. I was an avid backpacker before I was a climber, and climbing initially appealed to me when I realized I could go up mountains instead of just walking around them. This exploration aspect of climbing is essential to me and part of the reason I enjoy everything from bouldering to ski mountaineering.

Why are you excited to gain more advocacy and policy skills?

Squeezing their way up Bumboy (V3) during the Float the Boat compeition at Boat Rock in Atlanta, GA. Land of the Muscogee and East Cherokee peoples. Kate Okenatez-Mahoney

I’ve worked on energy and climate issues throughout my career. It has always been difficult to disentangle discussions around energy production, climate change, public lands management, and, increasingly, outdoor recreation. I am glad to see the AAC wrestling with these larger issues that affect this passion of ours, and I want to contribute to these discussions more. The opportunity to learn advocacy skills alongside others who share a passion for climbing is a big motivator. Climbing definitely heightened my awareness of local public lands management issues and specific climate change impacts globally.

Are there any particular issue areas you think your region will be focused on at this point?

Access and awareness of climbers as a user group seem to be perennial issues in the Southeast. We don’t have large swaths of federal public lands in the South (at least with climbing), so much of the climbing is in state-managed parks or on private lands where access has been negotiated with the landowner. Fortunately, we have amazing LCOs in the Southeastern Climbers Coalition and the Carolina Climbers Coalition. They do great work creating and maintaining access and promoting stewardship. As climbers grow as a user group, we will need to ensure that state and regional policies and resources match the increasing use of these typically under-resourced areas.

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Alma Baste

CAN Hub: Utah

What are your local climbing spots?

I just moved to Salt Lake City! So I guess Little Cottonwood Canyon would now be my local crag.

How would you describe your relationship with climbing?

Complicated. It’s definitely a love/hate relationship somedays. Overall though, I really love the sport. I love the community, and the way you can meet new people and make friends regardless of where you live. I’ve met so many new people during my solo sessions at Rocktown. Beyond that, I love the mobilization climbers have in terms of stewardship and advocacy. When we’re really passionate and care about something, we go for it with the same intensity that we have for pursuing climbing objectives.

If there was a book written about you and climbing, what would it be called?

“The Ghost at Nose Candy”—I’ve had several people recognize me from working that boulder so much this past season; it’s almost embarrassing, but it is a magnificent boulder. And I love spooky stuff.

Why are you excited to gain more advocacy and policy skills?

My first trip to Indian Creek was shortly before it became part of Bears Ears National Monument. After the monument was rescinded, I became more and more aware of the need for advocacy surrounding climbing areas. Since then, I’ve pursued a master’s degree in Environmental Policy. The Climber’s Advocacy Network seemed like an excellent opportunity to gain even more skills, especially outside of a university, and focus on more local issues—like getting climbing included in management plans for different wilderness areas.

Jimmy Keithley, Vultures are Waiting 5.8,
The Cobblehorn, City Creek Canyon, UT. Land of the Goshute and Eastern Shoshone peoples. AAC member Andrew Burr

Are there any particular issue areas you think your region will be focused on at this point?

I’m still learning the SLC issues and building connections with local stakeholders like the Salt Lake Climbers Alliance, but I know the threat of a gondola or road expansion projects in Little Cottonwood Canyon has been a big subject lately. Both projects result in the destruction of popular bouldering areas throughout the canyon. Neither of them does much to improve the issue they intend to solve.

Why should climbers in your region volunteer with you to build CAN Capacity?

Because I can’t do this alone! And while I am incredibly obsessed with Utah, I’m by no means a local and would love to have the expertise of someone who’s been here far longer than me.

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Daniel Kroth

CAN Hub: New England

What are your local climbing spots?

I live in Cambridge, MA. Brooklyn Boulders Sommerville is my local gym.

How would you describe your relationship with climbing?

I think many climbers like to solve puzzles on and off the wall, test themselves physically, and explore the edges of their comfort zone. Like most of us, I feel as though my life can largely be divided into intellectual, physical, and emotional or expressive pursuits. One of the things I love most about getting outside to climb is combining these three facets of myself to approach new challenges.

Why are you excited to gain more advocacy and policy skills?

A beautiful day to boulder with Kai Lightner at the Gunks in New York. Land of the Munsee Lenape People. AAC member Chris Vultaggio

I’m excited because this stuff matters! I was able to build a meaningful connection to the outdoors in large part because easy access and low costs made it possible for my family to get outside. I want to build the skills necessary to help preserve this access and expand it to others.

Are there any particular issue areas you think your region will be focused on at this point?

Here in the Northeast, I think we have an excellent opportunity to advocate for equitable access to outdoor recreation. Of course, climate change awareness will be of paramount importance across the Club. With popular support for both initiatives in our region, we’re well-positioned to make an impact.

Why should climbers in your region volunteer with you to build CAN capacity?

Whether you’re in the area for school or grew up with a local crag, this group can help you build the skills and connections to advocate for issues important to you. We’re looking for teammates to think through the issues, keep a finger on the pulse of the local climbing community, and connect ideas to advocacy.

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The Seed of a Story: A Conversation with Nina Williams

By Nina Williams, Professional Rock Climber and AAC Board Member

& Hannah Provost, AAC Content Manager

This article originally appeared in Summit Register 005.

Nina Williams enjoying Lizzard the Gizzard, 5.11d in the Cayman Islands. Land of the Taino people. AAC member Andrew Burr

Communication is key. It’s a trite saying in climbing, let alone most other realms of life. We’ve heard countless retellings of accidents that would have been avoided if a belay partner had been paying better attention or everyone had been on the same page about the intricacies of a descent. While the complexity of communicating about policies and advocacy initiatives is a little different than yelling “Off Belay,” the lessons we’ve learned about the importance of communication in climbing carry over to communicating as a climbing advocate.

Nina Williams, professional rock climber and AAC Board Member, believes that effective communication skills are the groundwork for all of our other advocacy skills.

In this issue of the Summit Register, we’ll introduce you to our Climbers Advocacy Network (CAN) volunteers and offer a look at the curriculum and skill sets our volunteers are learning in the CAN EDU program. These include skills such as becoming fluent in the value of outdoor recreation, identifying key partners for a campaign, building strong coalitions, and keeping advocacy sustainable. But throughout the articles that follow, there is an underlying thread: the power of transparent and meaningful communication.

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Beginnings

Nina’s personal experiences as a young climber set the stage for how important communication would become in her career as an athlete and advocate.

During her early years it was rare for Nina to see other women or people of color at the crag. As a biracial Chinese-American, she did not see herself or her story represented in the climbing community. Nina felt compelled to prove that she belonged. This mindset, while motivating in some ways, was also isolating and lonely.

Author Nina Williams, dancing on Flying
the Colors 5.11c, Sector Sea Horse, The Northeast Point, Cayman Brac, The Cayman Islands. Land of the Taino people. AAC member Andrew Burr

“As a young person, I was usually one of the only girls in the gym. It was always about keeping up with the boys. But as an adult, I started to see other women and hear the stories of other climbers of color and started to realize that I was not alone in this–there are people like me that are experiencing the same things. It created a sense of lightness. I didn’t feel so alone.”

The realization that came from the power of exposure and deeper feelings of community led Nina to believe that there is immense power in storytelling and making space for others’ stories. Ultimately, this experience guided her into the path of advocacy.

Nina was emphatic: “We need to speak up for those who feel they do not have a voice or a presence in the spaces where we climb.” And that includes the land and natural resources we are trying to protect and the surrounding communities that are likewise impacted by climate change and inequitable access.

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Communication as Space

Nina’s personal experiences with the transformative possibility of storytelling pulled her to pursue a degree in Communication. This background informs the powerful strategies she uses in advocacy settings to ensure that advocating doesn’t just become yelling into the void.

Nina explains that the traditional understanding of how we communicate is transactional: you say something with an intended message. Ideally the other person understands your intended message, processes it, and responds with their own message in kind. With this traditional understanding, the literal message being conveyed—the words themselves—is the only element under consideration when making meaning. This model views communication as a back-and-forth transmission of information. However, if you broaden your view of communication just slightly, you are much more likely to get your message across.

Bouldering at Rumbling Bald,
NC. Land of the Catawba, Eastern Cherokee, and Yuchi peoples. AAC member Forest Woodward

Nina argues that, by looking at communication with a wider lens, we can see the expansive and colorful spaces that exist within each person. These spaces are our life experiences, joys, biases, personal traumas, and more. One person’s space (i.e. everything they have lived through) is separate and unique from yours. This creates subtle differences in each individual’s communication styles. Communication is the process of navigating both the similarities and differences in each person’s space. Our spaces influence the way we speak, our body language, and how we communicate with others. Ignoring our own experiences, or the experiences of those we are speaking with, oversimplifies the many elements of our lives that infuse our ability to hear another’s message or to be compelled by it.

With this model of communication in mind, Nina recommends the following tips for communication that respects and acknowledges the complexities that each person brings to any given encounter.

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Nina’s Top 3 Tips for Effective Conversation

1. Acknowledge and Recognize Someone’s Life Experience (someone’s space):

+ You don’t have to agree with them, but once someone feels they are seen, they are more likely to relax their initial defensive barrier.

2. Validate and Affirm:

+ Find a common thread and validate the commonness between you. You can always find something that you share, and affirming this connection aligns you and the person you are speaking with.

3. Genuine Active Listening

+ Let someone tell their story and create their space for you. Listen without giving advice or offering your own opinion. Let go of your agenda for a moment and really hear what they care about and how their story gives insight into what motivates them.

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Build Your Personal Narrative

"Climbers are powerful storytellers just purely based on how powerful climbing is as a sport and as a community! There are so many parallels between the way we approach climbing and the ways we approach life," Nina says. Climbing is a part of your communication "space," but it is not a part of everyone's. Bridging that gap is imperative for articulating why you are motivated to advocate and why these issues matter.

When identifying storytelling opportunities that connect to climbing, Nina encourages people to look past the individual moves or grades and think about how the act of climbing is impacting their everyday life or their way of being.

"If I am describing how small the holds are, or how many pull-ups I am doing in the gym, or how I put a rope down to practice the top out, nonclimbers may not really get it."

Instead, Nina suggests we communicate how climbing is a vehicle for experiences and values that many of us share.

"For example, I might touch on the beauty of the landscape and how the process of climbing pushes me to learn more about things outside of climbing like human anatomy, new ways to calm the mind through meditation, or the Indigenous connection to a place."

These are more universal concepts that people, climbers and nonclimbers alike, can take away from the story and implement into their own life. In Nina's eyes, that is the key to storytelling, figuring out how to relate your experiences and what you learned throughout the experience to someone else.

"When storytelling, I like to think about the gift or the thing that is embedded within my story that someone else will take away and utilize in their own life. That is how you spread the seed of a story and give others the tools they need to build out their own story."

Stories that resonate can be the tipping point for action or inspiration for another climber to join with us in advocacy. They can open the way for an inclusive community and persuade lawmakers that these issues matters. So dig in—what's the seed of your story?

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Climbers for Climate—AAC Takes Action!

WE HEARD YOU! Climbers care deeply about the issue of climate change and are concerned about its impact on our climbing landscapes, communities and outdoor recreation economy. It is time that we address this direct threat to the climbing community and engage in coordinated action to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Learn more about the AAC’s stance. Add your voice to the fight!

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June 4, 2019, Golden, CO—The American Alpine Club (AAC), the country’s oldest and largest climbing advocacy organization, represents an outdoor community whose ethos is inextricably linked to healthy mountain environments and ecosystems. It is time that the Club addresses climate change as a direct threat to the climbing community and engages in coordinated action to mitigate its impacts. Failure to act with urgency threatens important alpine environments which support the health and vitality of our community. As such, the AAC is committing to taking action on climate change.

Around the world, mountain regions are warming at roughly twice the pace of the global average. The American Alpine Club, the advocacy voice of more than 24,000 climbers, is alarmed about the adverse impacts of climate change on climbing, climber safety, mountain environments. A recent AAC climber survey showed 94% of AAC members agree that climate change poses a great deal of risk to the places we climb, hike, and ski; the vast majority of survey participants also believe that human activity is the driving cause of climate change.

“It is clear the team at the American Alpine Club and me that the voice of the climbing community is critically important in today’s environmental and social efforts,” said AAC CEO Phil Powers. “I’m proud to be part of a committed group of people who are advocating for the health and sustainability of mountain environments, the ecosystems that house them, and the planet as a whole. We are addressing the challenges of climate change and we hope that you’ll join us; together, we’re stronger.”

The AAC is taking immediate steps to measure, minimize, and offset the organization’s own carbon emissions, as well as to divert staff resources and financial support toward political advocacy, scientific research through grants, and developing resources for members to make sustainable choices as they plan trips and expeditions.

Recognizing that climbers, skiers, and mountaineers are credible witnesses to change in the mountains, the American Alpine Club is also soliciting personal observations of how climate change is impacting the climbing landscape as part of a new Climate Story Collection. We encourage you to join the Club and contribute your story, which will be used to influence local and national policy and advocacy reform: http://bit.ly/2KqDmj7