Black climbers will climb Mt. Everest to break down ‘intentional lack of access for black people’
A group of black mountain climbers are gearing up to summit Mt. Everest this year with the stated mission of exposing what they claim is the racism and “colonial history” embedded in mountaineering.
Only one black American has ever reached the summit of Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain in the world at 29,032 feet. But a group of nine highly experienced mountaineers could change that in May.
The group, under the name Full Circle Everest Expedition, say they hope to “change the narrative” about black mountaineers.
“I hear ‘black people don’t do that,’ all the time when I talk about my climbing,” one member of the team, 28-year-old Rosemary Saal, told the Washington Post. “That only perpetuates the stereotypes. It’s important to change the narrative.”
In fact, Saal said the group wants to tear down what she characterized as “intentional” barriers to mountain climbing for black individuals.
“There’s been an intentional lack of access for Black people. When [New Zealand explorer Edmund] Hillary first summited [Everest], black people couldn’t even vote in this country,” Saal said. “This expedition is all about showing, ‘Yes, we can do this.'”- READ MORE
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