These LGBTQ+ Climbers Are Reaching New Heights
When Megan Carter moved to Colorado several years ago, her partner at the time was an avid climber and tried to throw her into the sport.
Carter found herself atop a teetering stone arch in the wilderness. She wanted to cry.“I was super afraid of heights, totally mortified,” recalls Carter, who is now a climbing coach and the brainchild behind Queer Climbing Night at her local gym, Eagle Climbing + Fitnessin Eagle, Colorado. “It was something totally out of my comfort zone.
Also, at that time I saw the climbing community as unapproachable and, as a queer woman, not very welcoming. I saw it as a lot of bros and people trying to prove themselves.” A climber scales a natural outdoor wallA couple of years later, she gave climbing another try.
As it turned out, all she needed was someone she could trust to show her the way.“I think whether it’s checking out a queer climbing night, signing up for a class at your gym, or creating a relationship with an instructor or friend who can guide you into the sport, it comes down to trust,” she says. “Showing up at a gym by yourself can be really intimidating.
