★ From the organisers ★


As organisers of Women's Trad Festival, we strive each year to address barriers to participation, be that practical, financial, experience, ability or confidence, and also the more systemic barriers such as racism, transphobia, homophobia and elitism. We are privileged to work with leaders and AMI mentors who are aligned with our aims and values and strive to create a warm and welcoming festival. Year on year, we hope to welcome more diverse folk to the festival, as well as continue to champion the many corners of the climbing community through our series Climbers Like Me. We believe that if you can see it, you can be it. For us, this is just the start, there is plenty of work yet to be done.


Rehna Yaseen – Learner


“When you go to the climbing wall you see people from all sorts of diverse backgrounds but that transition into outdoor climbing doesn’t seem to be made somehow, maybe people look upon outdoor climbing as not a sport for them because they don’t see that


representation. If you don’t see anyone around you that looks like you, you just think: ‘Am I in the wrong place?’. It’s so important that we work towards giving these experiences to people who might feel like that. These types of festivals and events are so important - they create a safe space. Now all we need to do is to get more people from different ethnic backgrounds seeing that the outdoors is for them and that climbing is for everyone regardless of what you look like or what skin tone you have”.


Marie Uri – Learner


“Outdoor climbing is a bit complicated for me because I don’t have a car, I am a woman, I live in London … this is the perfect opportunity to network and communicate with other people that may or may not be in the same situation as you. It was amazing


this year to have the ballot system for tickets, I finally got in! 5 or 6 years ago when I started climbing, there were not many people like me doing it. Even now when I go to the crag sometimes, I get looks and people will say to me ‘Oh, well done, you did it’, like they didn’t expect me to. Sometimes you have to use a bit of humour to combat these things, I keep smiling and doing my goofy thing. I’m not going to dim my light because of other people’s attitudes. I know that climbing is getting more diverse. There are more groups out there and more stuff is happening, but I think a lot of people still don’t think that there is a problem with diversity and I can tell you that there is. It’s not just about women or colour, it’s about accessibility too. The Climbers Like Me series shows the different types of people that climb and we should have that representation everywhere, we need to hear about the real people, not just the famous ones”.


Kirsty Pallas – Leader


“The Women’s Trad Festival aligns with my own values, especially around accessibility and inclusivity. It’s having a space that’s non-judgemental and everyone can come to, you can turn up if you have no kit and everything is provided for you which is


awesome. With the Climbers Like Me project that the Trad Festival has run over the past year, it’s nice to see how they have drawn attention to climbers from all backgrounds. Not just those pushing the high grades but people who are just climbers simply because they climb”.


Trevor Massiah – Mentor


“Having a festival like this where people can be taught by both peers and people that are highly qualified is fantastic, it solves all the problems of people not having the kit, or not knowing people that have got the experience. It’s nice to see such a good mix too, it’s not


just for women. It’s great that there is a bunch of male instructors and mentors too and everyone is just mixing in and teaching people to be better and safer climbers so that they can enjoy the experience more”.


Chelle Nevill – Learner


“Climbing has changed my life in every way possible. It’s changed my confidence in myself and my belief in myself. It’s helped me apply the lessons I’ve learned through climbing to life; you can face your fears and get through them, you can stretch your boundaries. It’s


taught me a lot about how capable my body is which I didn’t know before, I was always like: ‘I’m not athletic, I’m not small, I’m not skinny, I’m probably not healthy enough’, it’s an identity that I never expected to find. The festival opens up so many avenues for so many people, it’s just amazing. It’s giving all these women a great place to come and just be and support each other and that’s so important”.


SUMMIT#103 | AUTUMN 2021 | 31


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