Diversity

Adventure Activism, Camping, Diversity, Environmental Justice, Environmental Protection, National Parks, Outdoor Recreation, Special Events, Yosemite / 13.06.2014

In the fading light of a late spring evening, gospel singer Sista Monica Parker sat humming on a bench at the Yellow Pines Campground in Yosemite National Park. There she waited patiently for others to gather. Quiet at first, her melodic voice gained strength as she swayed to the rhythm of a hymn perhaps not heard in the Valley for more than a century. The sound slowly swelled into a powerful chorus that echoed off the granite walls of El Capitan and Half Dome. Even the birds fell...

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Adventure Activism, Camping, Diversity, Environmental Justice, National Parks, Outdoor Recreation, Yosemite / 09.06.2014

  The outdoor industry has enjoyed a long history of diversity across a wide variety of people from many different backgrounds. Over the weekend a group of African-American outdoor enthusiasts made the long journey from the Presidio in San Francisco to Yosemite Valley in order retrace the path the Buffalo Soldiers took in 1903 to take up their duty station as defenders of the first National Parks. The enduring legacy of their efforts more than 100 years ago is reflected in the faces of those who love the outdoors...

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Adventure Media Review, Climbing, Diversity, Environmental Journalism, Environmental Justice, Expedition Denali / 04.06.2014

Just about anyone who writes for a living will be compelled eventually to write a book. Personally, I tried to put it off as long as possible. I simply didn’t have anything truly relevant to say or share on the scale of a 50,000-word manuscript. As it happens though that all changed in the fall of 2011 when I was invited by the National Outdoor Leadership School to take part in the first African-American team ascent of Denali, the highest peak in North America. Although I was not on...

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5Point, Adventure Media Review, Climbing, Diversity, Film Review, Life Out Loud, mountainfilm / 02.05.2014

The new climbing film 14.c introduces a unique perspective on the sport that demonstrates the critical importance of family in the development of natural talent. Directed by George Knowles, the short film follows a few days in the life of Kai Lightner, a talented young man who at the age of 14 climbs with incredible skill and ability. As Kai ascends to the top of the most difficult routes, rated 5.14c, he relies upon the support and encouragement of his mother, Connie. With infinite patience and enthusiasm, this...

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#BlackLivesMatter, Adventure Activism, Climbing, Diversity, National Geographic, Rock & Ice / 23.03.2014

At the young age of 14 Kai Lightner is doing amazing things in the world of sport climbing. In the spring of 2013 he ascended exceedingly difficult routes that included Southern Smoke (5.14c) and Transworld Depravity (5.14a) in the Red River Gorge of Kentucky. On the same two-week road trip he climbed Proper Soul (5.14a) in the New River Gorge of West Virginia. I wrote about him in the August/September issue of Rock & Ice magazine. And in August of last year Kai took his fourth champion title...

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Adventure Media Review, Destinations, Diversity, Expedition Denali, Life Out Loud, National Geographic / 03.03.2014

“The lure of the arctic is tugging at my heart. To me the trail is calling! The old trail, the trail that is always new.” ~Matthew Henson This story was excerpted from the forthcoming work of narrative nonfiction The Adventure Gap by James Edward Mills to be published this fall by the Mountaineers Books In 1909 a team of six men on dog sledges made their way to a single point at the center of vast Arctic wilderness. It was a block of ice 413 nautical miles off the coast...

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