Lesbian Adventurer Silvia Vasquez-Lavado Uses Nature To Help Survivors Heal
ayahuasca-fueled trip to her fraught childhood in the early aughts had her envisioning mountains. Soon after that, she began the journey that would take her to the highest peak on each of the seven continents — an adventure that culminated in 2018 with her glorious climb to the top of Denali in North America.
It was there that Vasquez-Lavado claimed the honor of being the first out gay woman to complete the arduous challenge. Over the years, Vasquez-Lavado faced myriad obstacles in reaching that goal.
There are the logistics, freezing temperatures, altitude sickness — and being a queer woman in a male-dominated avocation. A survivor of sexual abuse who was on a path to self-destruction (she’s now sober), Vasquez-Lavado turned to hiking for healing.
Eventually, it became a channel for her to raise awareness and launch her nonprofit, Courageous Girls (courageousgirls.org), which brings younger sexual assault survivors on cathartic climbs like the ones that lifted Vasquez-Lavado out of her own misery.
