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Where Race and Backcountry Skiing Meet

by Aidan Goldie July 18, 2020
written by Aidan Goldie July 18, 2020
The author backcountry skiing on the traditional Indigenous land of the Núu-agha-t?v?-p?? (Ute) and Pueblo tribes that still exist today. (Photo: Kyle Ramer)

The author backcountry skiing on the traditional Indigenous land of the Núu–agha–tuvu–pu (Ute) and Pueblo tribes that still exist today. (Photo: Kyle Ramer)

I’ll never forget the day I was finally invited on a ski trip. I was fourteen, living in Denver and for years I had been trying to build friendships based on a shared love of skiing. That day, my newfound friends were attempting to ski the east wall at A-Basin. Out of the group, I was the only one to ski the steep chute cleanly. From the bottom, I overheard my friends say to each other with surprise, “Wow, Browntown sent that.”

Browntown was not a nickname they called me to my face.

Patagonia snow

SPONSORED BY: PATAGONIA

It’s not a secret that our sport of backcountry skiing is as white as the snow we slide on. To establish this baseline we don’t have to look further than the voices that shape our community. Ski magazines feature predominantly white athletes, film reels highlight white experiences in the mountains, and avalanche education and outreach are facilitated by a predominantly white community. If recent public support for the work towards justice and equity for Black America affects backcountry skiing in any way, it needs to force us to really look introspectively at our implicit biases, racism, and the ski culture built around white elitism that led us here.

I want to get a few acknowledgments out of the way. There is no question that I am writing this article from a place of privilege. As you’re reading, I am guessing that you are thinking to yourself “what does a guy with the name ‘Aidan Goldie’ have to say about race?” While many aspects of my outward appearance are white — my name, my lack of foreign accent, my cultural experiences living in a white-dominated space — I am writing in order to provide a single perspective of the experience of an immigrant with brown skin, fully acknowledging that this experience is not representative of all people of color. That being said, I don’t need the qualifier of being a person of color to open up this conversation. This is one that we should have started a long time ago.

I was born in Chile to a Canadian father and Chilean mother where much of my childhood was spent living in South America. Even before living in a place with close access to snowy mountains, I inherited a love for skiing from my father who grew up skiing in eastern Canada. If you are familiar with the breed of skier that the east coast will produce, you’ll find nobody more excited about a 200m icy run on their local mountain. Despite our family living in tropical mountain forests without any snow, I daydreamed about one day climbing and skiing bigger mountains and I cherished the few opportunities I had to be introduced to skiing during my childhood.

Our family immigrated to Colorado when I was 12 years old, and my first Christmas I was met with a pair of yellow Solomon skis under our tree. Suddenly the scale of our skiing trips increased. Our first winter in Colorado my dad made it a point to brave the I-70 traffic on most weekends and venture out to the mountains and instill in me a love for skiing that he himself had grown up with. At the same time, I would become very aware that I was the only brown face amid lift lines and I realized how rare it was for people like me to occupy this space.

Barriers to entry

There are countless barriers to entry when it comes to skiing, let alone backcountry skiing, and they disproportionately affect people of color. The basic idea of voluntarily spending your free time in the cold outdoors is rooted in privilege. We make a voluntary choice to suffer for recreation. But really the first barrier to entry is geographic. This doesn’t just mean those that live in warmer states without the necessary snowpack, but even those that live in urban centers like Denver with larger populations of marginalized communities of color where a journey to the mountains represents a significant investment of both time and money.

For those that make it to the base of the mountain, many other barriers await. First is the gear. Even at entry-level costs, ski gear is an investment that may not be fulfilled. This is not just skis and boots, but warm jackets and ski pants, gloves, neck gaiters, helmets, goggles, poles. All of this before buying a ticket to ride the lifts. You may say that it is possible to buy all of these things inexpensively and affordably to get on the slope, which brings us to our next large barrier, knowledge.

I have a father who has skiing as a part of his lived experience and passed that knowledge down to me. It was a building block of our relationship and our shared culture. That knowledge does not exist outside of very specific circles of people and is rare in communities of color. Without the luxury of having someone teach you how to ski, the cost of lessons will have to be factored into the cost of skiing. You may be able to trade a six-pack for lessons but again, being in a specific community of friends and family to tap into that resource is not universal.

Take all of these barriers to entry to the most basic lift-served ski day, add the additional barriers presented to people of color, and multiply it by many orders of magnitude and you may now enter the world of backcountry skiing.

But, there is something else that is overlooked when thinking about equity in outdoor recreation, an experience that only a person of color can really understand. When entering a white space a person of color will become very aware of that fact and begin to question their ability to be in that space. I can identify times when I walked into a clean, manicured store to shop for a gift and then had white staff following me around making sure that I wouldn’t steal something. Or the times that I was out walking in my suburban Denver neighborhood and having community members come up to me and ask probing questions to assess whether I belong in their neighborhood. Leading up to that first ski trip mentioned above, it seemed as if my newfound friends were constantly testing me on my knowledge of the sport and then discounting me when I shared my own skiing stories. I felt as if my love of skiing was always on trial, as if I was an imposter based on the color of my skin.

Additionally, there are many elements of our ski community that are not inclusive. Off the top of my head, I can think of our use of the words “Jerry” or “gaper” as an implication that others do not belong in our space. Something I am certainly guilty of. We may think of these as funny jokes, but we have to understand that this sentiment comes from a sense of privilege and to mock those who do not share our experiences. More importantly, in a liftline, a person of color will certainly recognize the tone in which those words are spoken. It’s a tone of exclusion that they will have encountered countless times in their lives.

So does that mean White members of the ski community should be ashamed of participating in the sport? No. Backcountry skiing is beautiful. It truly is an artistic expression in the mountains. A freedom of the hills that comes alive through painting a skin-track on a pristine canvas. It is something that anyone should have an opportunity to experience. But, the predominantly white ski community needs to express a desire to be part of a change towards equity. The first step is acknowledging that white privilege is real, and it exists as a direct result of historic and present oppression of marginalized people of color.

Positive steps in the ski world

One of the most important things that we can do as a community towards equity is an intentional effort to amplify BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) voices in our sport. Like many of you, I have been closely following Cody Townsend’s “The Fifty” project. I was floored to see Cody and Bjarne inclusively representing Indigenous voices by bringing Len Necefer and Connor Ryan to ski Mt. Tukuhnikivatz and acknowledging Native American Mountain Culture. In sharing their stories, Len and Connor provide a glimpse of what it means to be spiritually connected to the land and how that connection guides their approach to skiing and their shared experience and culture. While this is a rare, and small example, we need to hear more voices and stories like that as a way to assert that skiing is not just a white experience and that our use of public land is rooted in an irredeemable trauma towards Indigenous people that still exist today.

The author investigates a snowpack while skiing in his backyard mountains outside of Vail, CO. The Gore Range, like many other natural features, has a colonial namesake that erases Indigenous history. Recreation in public lands starts with respecting that compex history as you would respect the complexity of a snowpack. In this case, respecting the traditional land of the Núu-agha-t?v?-p?? (Ute) tribe that still exist today. (Photo: Aidan Goldie)

The author investigates a snowpack while skiing in his backyard mountains outside of Vail, CO. The Gore Range, like many other natural features, has a colonial namesake that erases Indigenous history. Recreation in public lands starts with respecting that complex history as you would respect the complexity of a snowpack. In this case, respecting the traditional land of the Núu-agha-tuvu-puu (Ute) tribe that still exist today. (Photo: Aidan Goldie)

This acknowledgment needs to be present at the highest level of our sport too. Jim Morrison and Hilaree Nelson’s first ski descent of the Lhotse Couloir in the fall of 2018 has been widely regarded as one of the single greatest accomplishments in the niche sport of ski-mountaineering. But, after watching Jim and Hilaree speak on their accomplishment at the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen, CO this past winter, I realized what impressed me the most about their expedition and mountain ethic. It was not that they managed to link together hop turns at 8,000 meters, nor was it their compelling story of finding love through climbing and skiing. It was their fundamental respect for the Sherpas that made their expedition possible.

While this is not a sentiment unique to Jim and Hilaree, it was unique in that they highlighted the Sherpa culture and their importance to the expedition. The athletes allowed for their own impressive resumes to be overshadowed by the Phortse Sherpa and their families by ending the film “Lhotse” with Palden Namgyal Sherpa’s now-iconic quote: “Everest ten-time summit, Lhotse four-time summit, Manaslu one-time summit, Cho Oyu two-time summit, Ama Dablam three-time summit, Annapurna I one-time summit, and you?” Again, despite what our media portrays, backcountry skiing and ski-mountaineering is not an exclusively white sport.

Where do we go from here?

If you have read the article to this point, you may be asking yourself “what tangible steps can I take to promote equity in backcountry skiing?” Unfortunately, that question does not have a straightforward response. Much of the work starts with a period of internal reflection, identifying your internalized personal bias, and then working towards systemic change. The prominent voices and publications in our community need to be a large part of that change. For example, reflect on the way that you ingest information and construct an image and culture around backcountry skiing. Is your Instagram feed filled with only white skiers and photographers? What about skiing magazines? Where can you find new perspectives and voices that are unlike your own? It is up to you as a consumer to dictate the content you want to see and to advocate for better representation.

Backcountry skiing is an artistic freedom of expression in the mountains. Our public lands need to be inclusive for everyone. This means actively working towards removing the numerous barriers to entry that BIPOC will encounter. (Photo: Aidan Goldie)

Backcountry skiing is an artistic freedom of expression in the mountains. Our public lands need to be inclusive for everyone. This means actively working towards removing the numerous barriers to entry that BIPOC will encounter. (Photo: Aidan Goldie)

Also, reflect on your sense of ownership of the sport. Come to terms with how you treat the public lands that you tour on. Do you feel a sense of possession of that land and a wave of ensuing irritation when you see others touring in your space? Acknowledge that this space was created by our country’s oppression of Indigenous land and culture and reframe your mountain ethic. Now ask yourself, how can I begin to honor Indigenous culture in my own recreation on historically Indigenous lands? First, that comes with open dialogues about the land that we occupy when backcountry skiing. Visit the Native Land mapping website and use the Native Land app to find out the Indigenous history of your local public land. Professionally, there is a need for all avalanche courses and guiding outfits to adopt a genuine Indigenous land acknowledgement.

Equity work begins with increasing the representation of BIPOC in backcountry skiing. BIPOC skiers, photographers, and writers exist and should be sought out to authentically share their unique voices and perspectives. This is not simply done by inviting those voices to the table, as doing so implies and perpetuates white ownership of that table. This equity work should remove the many barriers to entry that BIPOC experience and that work should also be backed-up by proper monetary compensation. It really needs to be a fundamental shift in our culture away from a white-centered space towards an inclusive one. Like many movements that have come to shape countries and cultures, it starts with the dialogue that we choose to have within our community. Just as I will talk openly with my backcountry ski partner about the surrounding terrain and possible threats to our ski tour, I will have an equal responsibility to speak openly about the space we take up and the people that are included.

Aidan Goldie is a science teacher and ski-mountaineer based out of Carbondale, CO. When he is not climbing and descending peaks in the American West, he is fostering values of equity and cultural relevance in his 10th-grade classroom.

Looking to diversify your feed? Check out these Instagram accounts:
@sacredstoke
@lennecefer
@thegreenevan
@indigenousgeotags
@k_____a_____m
@intersectionalenvironmentalist
@wecoloroutside
@outdooradvocacy
@melaninbasecamp
@nativewomenswilderness
@browngirlsclimb
@zahanbillimoria
@NativesOutdoors

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27 comments

Bobby July 18, 2020 - 10:23 am

There have been lots of pieces published recently about making the sport of skiing more inclusive, but this is the best one. Beautifully written and coming from a place of deep knowledge. The reminder about land ownership was especially poignant. Thanks, Aidan.

Jo July 18, 2020 - 12:21 pm

Thank you for providing your perspective, Aidan. Your words ring so true and calls out so much of the work that needs to be done in our community. I never really considered the importance of acknowledging indigenous land in the places that we ski.

Hugh Carey July 18, 2020 - 2:21 pm

This is spot on, Aidan. Best read.

Brody Leven July 20, 2020 - 10:04 pm

Aidan, this is fantastic and I’m so glad you shared this with us. Thank you. -Brody

Tom July 18, 2020 - 5:05 pm

outstanding and timely. thank you.

David July 18, 2020 - 5:26 pm

Loved this piece. Btw- wasn’t Bargiel’s ski descent of K2 the greatest Skimo descent ever?

Aidan July 19, 2020 - 2:30 pm

I love that this is the part of the article that sparks the most controversy. You’re absolutely right, I think both ski descents are legendary and of unfathomable difficulty. I can’t say which one tops the other but I can say with certainty that both are bad-ass.

Jernej July 20, 2020 - 4:39 am

“The basic idea of voluntarily spending your free time in the cold outdoors is rooted in privilege. We make a voluntary choice to suffer for recreation. But really the first barrier to entry is geographic.”

I’ll take the less popular route and point out that skiing in any form did not start as recreation and as such was certainly not limited geographically or otherwise to a single race. Its origins are of necessity in hunting in Scandinavia, the Alps and Altai mountains among likely other ranges. In other words, it could have evolved on every continent including Africa.
Outside of US you could (can?) hardly claim that it was a privilege of the elites even 20-30 years ago. Around here it was just a fact of life that everyone, regardless of economic background, learned to ski just like everyone learned to swim. It’s still true albeit to lesser degree as lift ticket prices climbed and tiny, single lift local areas died due to a combination of factors.

If you want role models, how about afghan girls in a documentary: https://www.filmneweurope.com/news/slovenia-news/item/119978-production-slovenian-austrian-finnish-skiing-in-scarves-overcomes-postproduction-challenges

Frame July 21, 2020 - 8:26 am

I’d argue that the idea of skiing as we currently know it is based around mechanised skiing (racing / recreation), which was a Norwegian, Brit, French, Swiss, Italian, Austrian, Slovenian thing (derived from hunting, swimming probably is too). Hunting in this day and age is almost a thing of privilege. The Alpine nations of Europe may remove the geography privilege and that will also significantly impact the cost privilege (access to the hill, access to clothing/gear). I think it is a thing of privilege in the US/ UK, Australasia and to an extent in Europe (BeneLux/UK/Nth&East of France), you need to live in the right place or be able to afford travel (I wouldn’t use the word elites, but a level of disposable income is required).
I wouldn’t have started without brothers or friends to take me and loan me gear and then of going to university (may be a bit of privilege in that one too) opened up discounted lift tickets and mid week skiing to really cement how awesome skiing is. I’m from NZ (live in the UK now) the only skier of any real international standing (when I was a kid) is BIPOC but it was mates and family that lead me into the sport, as a Pakeha (Caucasian) meant I looked like the majority of the folk when I’ve skied in NZ, US, Europe.

Thanks for the good read and thought provoking article.

Paul Simon July 21, 2020 - 6:41 pm

Hey, is that you Jernej S. from Bovec?
If so: you really need to come visit me in Chamonix next season!
Cheers
Paul

Jernej July 23, 2020 - 1:36 pm

Not your guy but I’m all for going to Chamonix 😉

Mr. H July 20, 2020 - 7:25 am

Excellent article! Cost for this sport is crazy expensive and steadily climbing, over $200 lift tickets at some resorts. I currently ski 2-3 times a season, down from 12-15 in the 90’sand early 2000’s. My skiing family has been steadily priced out of the sport we love. How would it be possible to encourage new participants when costs keep escalating? Changing marketing practices will increase cultural visibility for sure but not the cost. Without addressing this problem skiing will only be affordable for the 1 percenters of the world.

Aidan July 20, 2020 - 9:41 am

Thanks for sharing your perspective. You’re absolutely right that increasing visibility is only part of the solutions and is often where equity in the outdoors begins. I would like to share a recent article in the Atlantic that addresses the topic of visibility and takes it further, giving actionable steps for equity in the outdoor community:

https://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/rei-2018/five-ways-to-make-the-outdoors-more-inclusive/3019/?emci=b8984b53-01c2-ea11-9b05-00155d03bda0&emdi=516f3f5a-0dc2-ea11-9b05-00155d03bda0&ceid=3912598&fbclid=IwAR1N4_gQ7_4ApcSqzCETnaaozroGrPcPLz5w3wUyvgJJk7W9mVxQkCvaYBI

While not all of those steps are applicable to the world of skiing and backcountry skiing, I also want to highlight Rob Katz’s letter in response to Black Lives Matter and his acknowledgment that Vail Resorts is “Part of the Problem”. It will be interesting to see if this letter leads to legitimate action or another example of corporate virtue signaling. This would be a place for a big presence in the skiing community, Vail Resorts, to back up their words with money and action.

Internally, Vail resorts would not just have to restructure their hiring and recruitment practices but also provide incentives that remove barriers for BIPOC. This would mean including gear, lessons, and time into fair compensation packages for BIPOC employees. There are plenty of opportunities for employment at Vail Resorts that do not require previous experience skiing that could also value the lived experiences of BIPOC employees.

Externally, this would mean that Vail Resorts would need to intentionally provide free/heavily discounted lift tickets, lessons, and rentals for the BIPOC community. In doing so supporting organizations like SOS Outreach that have already built partnerships to do this work.

For those BIPOC skiers and riders that are interesting in entering the realm of BC skiing, more scholarship opportunities to attend Avy courses would be necessary. Initiatives like the one recently presented by Voile giving BC gear to BIPOC skiers are also a step in the right direction.

There are many ways to approach this problem and they all start with the genuine inclusion of BIPOC voices and perspectives

Aidan July 20, 2020 - 9:15 am

Jerne, you’re right. This is a US-centric perspective that does not acknowledge the history of skiing among many cultures around the world. However, it is an article focused on the USA for a reason. This article is written in response to recent public support of the Black Lives Matter movement that brings to light the racial and economic injustice in this country, it is important to reflect on the way that skiing and backcountry skiing is structured and the barriers to entry that are constructed for BIPOC.

RDE July 20, 2020 - 1:12 pm

Adian
Very nicely presented article. Let me add a little historical color.
–As a teenage skier in Eugene Oregon 50 years ago there was only one ski shop. It was partly owned by a black partner who was the best slier I’d ever watched.
–The purely white business of Formula 1 auto racing has been totally dominated for six years by Lewis Hamilton, a hip black man.
–Riding on the plane back from the Caribbean my seat mate was a black woman from Barbados. Turns out she is a member of the Miami Ski Club, and is on her way to Colorado for skiing.
— Every year the normally staid Sun Valley is upended for a week as Black Ski Club takes over the slopes and rocks the bars.

Perhaps even the face of skiing on white snow will change before it all turns to brown grass.

Uphill Joe July 20, 2020 - 4:04 pm

Excellent article. Incorporating BIPOC perspectives, and Indigenous acknowledgments into our mountain passions are essential to the process of DEI. Myself and my close friends have had several discussions of how our relatively privileged mountain lifestyles are so far removed from protests, or the inequities one may see in places of larger populations. We noted that a lot of our community thrives on managing risk, taking on challenges, and having difficult discussions when traveling in the backcountry. A friend stated, this mindset can be taken to advocate and speak up for BIPOC voices. As you said Aidan, discussing race in mountain communities, Indigenous perspectives, and how we can all further educate ourselves should be as common as discussing the risks for a days ski tour. Glad to have such great content on WildSnow!

Scott July 20, 2020 - 8:54 pm

Very inspiring reading, thinking and next steps.
Thank you!
Perhaps there is a partnership possible with BlueBird Backcountry (https://bluebirdbackcountry.com) and the BIPOC community.
I would volunteer in a heartbeat!
Also, Big City Mountaineers could be another partnership.

Mac July 21, 2020 - 12:42 am

It would be great if Adain or someone else could actually explain the ‘privilege’ they talk about. Is it the fact that they are born or are living in a Western liberal democracy, which doesn’t impose rules on how they live their lives so long as they don’t unreasonably affect others?
Isn’t focussing on someone’s achievements because of the colour of their skin the literal definition of being a racist? The implication Adiain makes that you can only be “spiritually connected” to a place if your skin colour in’t white is frankly vile – and yes I am very offended, even if that wasn’t Adain’s intention. But I’m sure he understands, it’s just as likely that the shop owner who followed him around probably didn’t mean any offence.
To state that spending your free time in the cold outdoors is “rooted in privilege” is frankly one of the stupider things I have read in years. All all the kids running around Yellowknife and Churchill just as privileged as he? To rebut all the non-sequiturs and fallacies in the articles would take too much time and I suspect rather misses the point I wish to make.
I have no doubt that there are issues around racism, and in the Western world the US has more of an issue than most. However, no one is going to make any progress if we all fall into the neo-Marxist trap of identity politics, where we focus of our inherent, superficial differences rather than our common humanity.
If Adain really wants to look for a way forward, as he asks, we could do a whole lot worse than stop focussing on the colour of a persons’ skin. If you are arguing the case that the fundamental organising principle of our society be the same as the Nazis, maybe that is a good indication that you need to re-evaluate your proposition?
Personally, I think that MLK Jr summed things up pretty much right when he said “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” It’s a much more hopeful and inspiring narrative than the one divisive, racist bigots would have us play. I recommend everyone have a read (https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm)

Claire K July 21, 2020 - 9:44 am

Found the Racist! Everyone, I found the racist!

I’m not going to qualify this viewpoint with a response other than I hope that you are able to grow as a human being and one day actually understand the words of MLK. We are living in an inequitable world and country where people are very much judged and oppressed by the color of their skin. Saying that you don’t see race is just a way of ignoring discrimination. These issues trickle into every corner of our society. That should be enough for you to crawl out of your racist bubble and think about how you can be better.

Aidan, thank you for your thoughtful and articulate response to the current political landscape. The support you are receiving from the big voices in our BC ski and ride community is a testament to the importance of this article. I’m sorry that people like this MacRacist make it hard for people to speak up about these important issues. I will be sharing this article with all of my guiding colleagues and staff that I hire. We will be incorporating Indigenous land acknowledgments into all of our guided trips out here on the east coast.

-Claire and Mark

Jenn July 21, 2020 - 10:18 am

While certainly skiing is a white normative, white dominant sport, it is also one of privilege. In general, skiing, especially backcountry skiing, is not inviting for all. It is expensive and extremely intimidating. I do appreciate that Aidan explains his incredible privilege. To learn to ski and have skis when you were 11 years old is extreme privilege. The majority of the population, white or BIPOC, do not get that opportunity. Trying to learn or enter the sport of skiing later in life when you have saved and worked to make it a possibility, is hard and does not always feel welcoming to anyone who didn’t grow up with that privilege. Certainly being called out or questioned as a BIPOC on the slopes is hard and discouraging, but imagine what it would be like if Aidan weren’t so privileged.

Evan July 21, 2020 - 1:33 pm

Great article Aidan! The backcountry skiing world has seemed to brush this issue under the rug so far, way to start the conversation! Thanks for the shoutout at the end!

Tele Món July 21, 2020 - 7:31 pm

Great article, Aidan! Thanks for taking the time to write and share these important thoughts and considerations. For anyone that doubts the very real barriers to skiing for BIPOC, and the prevailing racist attitudes of superiority that abound in our predominately white mountain-loving communities, please post Aidan’s article to the Telemark Ski Forum on Facebook with over 9,000 skiers…and then take cover!

In the weeks following the slaying of George Floyd, a handful of us attempted to engage the Telemark Skiing Forum on race related issues. We were shouted down, scorned, and eventually ejected by the admins for being “off-topic.” If this is the climate in the Telemark Ski Forum, can you imagine what being on the mountain can feel like?

On a positive note, for any skiers looking for a more diverse and BIPOC friendly forum, we started Heroes of Telemark II. We are anti-racist, anti-fascist, pro-equal rights and respect for all, and all the other good stuff. And we don’t care if your heels are locked, so long as your mind is free! –Tele Món, National Ski Patrol Ambassador 2019/2020, Kapampangan/Shikaakwa Native

David Field July 22, 2020 - 10:01 am

I enjoyed reading the article and hearing Aidan’s perspective. We are all privileged to have the opportunity and means to access winter sports as a liesure pursuit. We need to be aware that the same barriers that maintain income/education/housing/health disparity apply to winter recreation. Hopefully as those barriers get removed, we will see a more diverse group of humans enjoying the backcountry. We can work to remove those barriers by donating equipment and volunteering to help organizations who make backcountry recreation accessible.
l

Rusty West July 22, 2020 - 1:33 pm

Thank you Aidan. I’ve now researched my own winter resort area (Stevens Pass, Washington state), and now will include the fact that it is on Skykomish (and other First Nations) land. I will include this information when I speak to others about Stevens Pass, as well as guests and students at our snowsports school. Thanks Aidan!
Rusty West – Stevens Pass Snowsports School

Kelsey Bohanon July 22, 2020 - 9:02 pm

Thanks for writing this aidan! I have been thinking a lot about this topic with relation to climbing and outdoor recreation in general, and its been hard for me to pin down my thoughts. Your succinctness and clarity is super helpful!

Wil July 23, 2020 - 12:29 am

Aidan I really appreciate your open and candid assessment of what it is to be a person of color in our small town world of white. There can be no environmental justice without social justice and vice versa. Everyone who loves our little piece of paradise needs to recognize this. If we are to ensure our children’s children’s children enjoy the same privilege and experiences we do, then we must make sure as many people as possible love these wild places. That means opening our doors and being welcoming. Thank you for opening the door.

Robert Paul July 30, 2020 - 9:14 am

Aidan there is beauty and truth in your words. It is my pleasure to share the mountains with you.

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