Shaping the Future and Creating Space: Nine Years of Brown Girls Climb

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What began as a one-person vision evolved into a collective effort, as seven more powerful Black, Brown, and Indigenous voices joined to help shape the movement, transforming the face of climbing.

Brown Girls Climb (BGC) started with the simple yet radical idea of creating a space where Women of Color could connect through climbing, storytelling, mentorship, and collective joy. Over the last nine years, this idea has grown into a national nonprofit that uplifts the voices of the Global Majority in outdoor spaces and climbing communities across the United States.

“The history of Women of Color in the mountains is extensive,” says BGC founder Bety Lebewitz. “From the spiritual and cultural practices of the Inca in South America to the generations of Sherpa mothers and daughters in Nepal, to the porters at Kilimanjaro’s base—our contributions to exploration, discovery, and mountain life run deep. Yet too often, our names and histories go unrecognized.”

But more and more women and queer folks of color are making climbing history and changing the narrative. Climbers like Chelsea Griffie, the first Black woman to climb El Cap. Japanese mountaineer Junko Tabei, the first woman to summit Everest and the Seven Summits. Mexican alpinist Karla Wheellock, the first Latina woman to summit Everest. And Japanese American comp climber Ashima Shiraishi, the youngest person ever to climb V15. These and many more women have changed the course of climbing history. Meanwhile, trailblazers like Kareemah Batts, Emily Taylor, Dawa Yangzum, and many more have expanded access and opened new pathways.

Each gathering, each story, and each send is an act of visibility. It’s a declaration:
We climb. We have always climbed.

And we will continue to climb over peaks, over barriers, over years of exclusion and erasure.

This past year, 2024, marked our first full year as a nonprofit, and it was transformative. Despite shifts in funding and challenges across the industry, our community showed up with strength and love. You helped us relaunch programs, train leaders, and build new opportunities for Black, Indigenous, and queer Women of Color in climbing. As we head into 2025, we remain committed to this work. Our goal is still the same: to create spaces where climbers of the Global Majority feel seen, supported, and empowered to take up space.

Brown Girls Climb’s Timeline: Climb, Community, and Change

While BGC began by centering Women of Color, our impact is evolving to serve all climbers navigating systems shaped by patriarchy, colonization, and exclusion. We envision a climbing community that honors:

• Land-Community Connection: We center land history, Indigenous sovereignty, and the complexities of outdoor access, especially on stolen land.
• Celebratory and Respectful Community: We affirm the beauty in our differences, navigate imperfect language with care, and commit to collective healing.
• Responsible and Reciprocal Recreation: We lead and recreate with intention, honoring the land, local communities, and each other.
• Holistic Education and Awareness: We reimagine climbing culture with historical knowledge, personal identity, and lived experience.

What follows is a timeline of some of the ways we’ve worked toward that vision for the past nine years. Noting that, besides our founders and local leaders, we have strived to create valuable partnerships with outdoor brands: The North Face, La Sportiva, Arc’teryx, and more. While also connecting to major organizations, Access Fund, American Mountain Guide Association, Latino Outdoors, Flash Foxy, and many more over the years.

2016–2017

• Published dozens of features uplifting Women of Color in climbing on Brown Girls Climb’s blog and Instagram.
• Co-hosted the first Color the Crag festival with the Brothers of Climbing.
• Held our first official meetup in Maryland at the Northwest Branch, a local boulder area.
• Started hosting indoor meetups at Earth Treks (now called Movement) in Maryland and Washington D.C.
• We expanded our meetups to Colorado, where additional founders also contributed to the organization’s development, helping it grow.

2018–2019

• Started hosting more meetups and events across the nation in Massachusetts and California.
• Co-created the first Women’s Single Pitch Instructor Affinity Course with the American Mountaineering Guide Association (AMGA) and Flash Foxy.
• Launched ​Voices from the Valley, a speaker series highlighting the stories and contributions of women of color in climbing and mountaineering. The series features climbers such as Chelsea Griffie, Emily Taylor, and Miho Aida, who share their experiences and advocacy work, aiming to inspire and empower underrepresented communities in the outdoors.
• Launched Pancakes & Policy, a community gathering combining shared meals with open discussions on policy and representation in outdoor spaces. It fosters dialogue, connection, and collective action among climbers from historically marginalized communities.
• Kicked off ​Women BOLDer, a collaborative event hosted in partnership with local LGBTQ+ groups in the Washington, D.C. area. The event celebrates the intersectionality of climbers, fostering an inclusive community that embraces diversity in gender, race, and identity in climbing.
• Hosted our last Color the Crag festival, which drew over 400 folks from around the world.
• Attended multiple national events including, PGM One Conference, Next 100 Coalition event at Outdoor Retailer, International Climber’s Festival, Out Wild Festival, Arcteryx Academy and others.
• Hosted a series of affinity based workshops and clinics in collaboration with Women’s Wilderness, The North Face, Environmental Learning for Kids and others.
• Documenting historically significant stories through blog posts and collaborative video series with Melanin Basecamp and Diversify Outdoors.
• Together with Outdoor Afro, hosted Been Here, a Black History Month climbing event in Denver.

2020–2021

• Started hosting meetups/events in Nevada, Chicago, New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina.
• Focused on digital education initiatives.
• Launched​ Hangin’ with Brown Girls Climb, a virtual series that fosters connection, dialogue, and learning within the climbing community. It offered an inclusive space for climbers of color to engage in conversations about climbing, culture, and community during the pandemic.
• Created the #JustTheFacts series celebrating the legacy of Women of Color in climbing
• Built the BGC Community App to connect climbers of color through events, resources, and mentorship, fostering community and representation in climbing spaces.
• Launched the BGC Marketplace, a values-driven online platform that connects outdoor enthusiasts with gear and apparel from brands committed to inclusivity, sustainability, and social responsibility. Shoppers can filter products by ownership (e.g., BIPOC, women, LGBTQIA2+), adaptive sizing, and corporate ethics, making it easier to support companies that align with their values.
• Partnered with Stuaton State Park in Colorado to host outdoor workshops on lead climbing and Anchors.
• Launched leadership programs with The North Face – The goal was to support local leaders in getting their certifications from Single Pitch Instructors to Leave No Trace Trainers.
• Launched our first community grant program with Climbing 4 Change & Central Rock Gym.
• Hired our first full-time CEO, co-founder Brittany Leavitt in 2021.
• Hired Part-Time Staff: Social Media and Web Manager.
• Hosted Blackness Is Not a Monolith, a conversation addressing the lack of Black representation and support in the outdoor and climbing industries in the midst of uprisings surrounding George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and more murders from police brutality.
• Hosted Erased: Unpacked, a conversation discussing the impacts of problematic route names, centering Indigenous perspective in climbing, and how we can reshape the culture of climbing.
• Hosted Crag Love, a community-led discussion about interracial relationships in climbing and hte outdoors.

2022–2023

• Continue hosting meetups & events in our 10 regions.
• Transitioned to a 501(c)(3) nonprofit model.
• Starting to host outdoor workshops and events again.
• Launched Annual Wilderness First Responders Certification program in partnership with Blackpackers.
• Supported All in Ice Fest: All In Ice Fest is an inclusive annual ice climbing festival in Ouray, Colorado, centering BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+, and adaptive climbers through clinics, community, and education.
• Co-launched United in Yosemite, which reshapes climbing culture by centering representation, Tribal partnership, stewardship, and joy.

2023–2024

• Continue hosting meetups & events in our 10 regions.
• Introduced our first youth climbing program with the Girl Scouts of the Nation’s Capital.
• Hosted Educational Workshop with Arcytrex in store: Leave No Trace, Outdoor Essentials, Wilderness Medicine 101
• Hosted in Partnership with Wondery Outdoors Climb with Her: 2024 annual climbing festival dedicated to celebrating International Women’s Day and raising funds to empower women in the outdoors.
• Attended and spoke at Climb Fest: The North Face Climb Festival is a free, two-day event in NYC celebrating climbing culture with competitions, panels, live music, and appearances by top climbers.
• Supported Queer Ice Fest: Queer Ice Fest is a free, LGBTQIA+ ice climbing festival in New York’s Adirondacks that centers queer community through guided climbs, celebration, and connection, exclusively for queer participants.
• Launched the Taken Up Space campaign with Hike Clerb & Edge Outdoors.
• Hosted our Brown Girls Climb Education Retreat in the Gunks.
• Hosted four virtual events uplifting global solidarity through outdoor education and storytelling. Each event focused on resistance, education, and global representation in outdoor spaces, including:
  • Holding Space for Palestine
  • Outdoor Voices for Palestine: Teach-In
  • Outside as Resistance
  • Conversation with Elena Quispe of Cholitas Escaladoras: Rompiendo Barreras y Escalando a Nuevas Alturas

2025:

• Continue building community through regular meetups and events while expanding our programs to include outdoor education workshops, leadership development, and deeper conversations on land stewardship and global solidarity. We’re excited to offer more opportunities for connection, mentorship, and collective growth both on and off the wall.

How You Can Support Brown Girls Climb

• Become a Monthly Donor: Your contributions help us sustain meetups, offer scholarships, and support local leaders.
• Attend Events: Join a workshop, a community climb, or one of our outdoor retreats.
• Partner With Us: We welcome sponsors, collaborators, and gear donors who share our values.
• Amplify Our Work: Follow @browngirlsclimb on Instagram. Share our story. Advocate for equity in the outdoors.