FESTIVALS
climbing has historically been a male-dominated sphere. With its origins firmly within mountaineering, sepia images of hobnail boot-wearing ‘blokes’ clutching hefty coils of hemp rope spring to mind when contemplating the climbers of old. Gwen Moffatt of course paved the way for women climbers by becoming the first female mountain guide in 1953, but women in climbing and mountaineering still remain largely in the minority. Latterly, the face of climbing in the mainstream media has been dominated by Alex Honnold’s free solo foray on El
A CERTAINLY, THE WAL IS NO LONGER A
MAN’S WORLD, BUT THERE IS STIL WORK TO BE DONE ELSEWHERE.
30 | CLIMB. WALK. JOIN.
gainst a moody backdrop of grey skies and sporadic showers, the sixth annual Women’s Trad Festival saw the famous crags of the Peak District light up with trad enthusiasts over one weekend in August. Focused on three core values of Mental Wellbeing, Sustainability and Accessibility, the BMC has proudly counted itself amongst the festival’s sponsors since the very beginning, and there’s much more to this festival than just gear and gritstone. Whether indoors or out; a sport, a pastime, a workout or a different way of seeing the world,
Capitan after the 2018 National Geographic docufilm broke free of the ‘outdoor film festival’ scene. Owing to its triple-disciplinary debut as an Olympic event at the postponed Tokyo 2020 games, climbing as a sport is seeing an exponential rise in popularity and participation levels as visibility skyrocketed internationally - and the paradigm is shifting. Thanks in part to Team GB’s Olympic recruit, five-time British Bouldering Champion Shauna Coxsey who put on a sterling performance despite injury, the gendered face of climbing in British media is diversifying. Certainly, the wall is no longer a man’s world, but there is still work to be done elsewhere. The Women’s Trad Festival began unassumingly in 2016, the brainchild
of two friends who as members of their university climbing club noticed an absence of diversity in outdoor climbing, particularly when it came to trad. The first festival was hastily masterminded and attended by 67 women who gathered under a borrowed marquee in a field in the Peak District. Now in its sixth year, the festival organised by Ellie Fuller, Charlie Low, Hetty Key and Gilly McArthur has grown year-on-year. The 2021 incarnation of the event played host to nearly 350 attendees of all levels of ability, offering targeted workshops including self-rescue skills and crack climbing, RCI refreshers as well as the usual learner sessions for total trad beginners, tentatively placing their first piece of gear. This year, 20 AMI professionals were on hand as mentors to the leaders to help further develop their instructional skills and uphold safety at the event. Those three core values of Mental Wellbeing, Sustainability and
Accessibility underpin everything from the toilets to the teabags at the festival, and the ethics extend from the campsite to the crag. Whilst female-focused at its core, the festival is inclusive of all marginalised and non-binary gender identities and welcomes men
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64
