7 Reasons Why Your Outdoor Friends Are Not Good Allies

So how do you know if your outdoor friends are good allies? And what do you do if they’re not? Here are seven reasons why they may be taxing the hell out of your emotional health.

5 Reasons Why You Should Keep Geotagging

Conservation starts with falling in love with America’s public lands. And there are far less racist techniques to manage public land than trying to play keep-away from urban hikers on social media. So here are five reasons why you should keep geotagging.

The Miseducation of Leave No Trace - Policing Black and Brown Bodies in the Outdoors

…recently, it seems more and more that Leave No Trace (LNT) is being misused to police black and brown bodies in the outdoors

African American Pro Surfer Dominique Miller Is Smashing Stereotypes on the World Tour

The ensuing news coverage declared her the breakthrough performance of the world tour. There’s a photo of Dominique: quads tensed, long brown curls flying loose behind her. Goddess like. She ended 2018 as the 5th ranked woman in the world.

This Black Mom Is Balancing Work, Marriage, Motherhood and Skydiving

Don’t wait for the conditions to be right. If you see something you want to try, go for it. You may even inspire someone else along the way!

Danielle WilliamsDanielle WilliamsFebruary 28, 2019Skydiving, Black Women, Motherhood, FamilyComment

Melanin Base Camp in 2018

Happy New Year from our family to yours! As we ring in 2019 we’d like to share our highlights from the past year! In 2018, we published 94 articles, racked up 92.2k page views and said hello to 47.3k of you! Thanks for reading. Here’s what our bloggers have been up to!

Danielle WilliamsDanielle WilliamsJanuary 7, 20192018, Melanin Base Camp, End of Year, Highlights, Top Articles, BloggersComment

In Pursuit of Mindfulness with African American Skydiver Nicholas Walker

Nicholas Walker is an African American competitive skydiver with ten years in the sport and over 1,050 jumps. He’s also a 3rd generation military veteran who first learned how to survive, adapt and thrive through a childhood that spanned two continents, six schools and almost losing a parent—twice.

Danielle WilliamsDanielle WilliamsJanuary 3, 2019Black skydiver, Skydiving, Resilience, Adapt, Skydive, Grief, Storytelling, Trauama, African American, FamilyComment

An African American Climber's Guide to "Being the Only One"

Meet Forrest Parks; at 26 years-old they are a sport climber, a Deuter ambassador, an Outdoor Research grassroots athlete and a Diversify Outdoors coalition member.

Danielle WilliamsDanielle WilliamsDecember 3, 2018climbing, chicago, sending in color, justin forrest parks, #diversifyyourfeed, familyComment

Eric Catig & The High Sierra Trail

We interviewed Los Angeles based mountaineer, Eric Catig, who recently hiked the High Sierra Trail along with four friends.

The Accidental Mountaineer

At 1 a.m. the next morning they were off to an alpine start; traversing Ingraham Glacier in total darkness while avoiding deep crevasses that could swallow a roped team whole.

Growing Up Black and Outdoorsy

He credits his Black parents and grandparents who “set the tone for us as advocates of outdoor exploration, stewardship, and "atypical" activities such as skiing, ice hockey and hang gliding.”

Danielle WilliamsDanielle WilliamsAugust 28, 2018african american, climbing, skiing, family, stem, race, being the only one, Being the only oneComment

Eight Amazing Asian & Pacific Islander Women Climbers on Instagram

We interviewed eight amazing Asian & Pacific Islander women who are changing the climbing scene through advocacy, representation and redefining what it means to #climblikeagirl.

Don Nguyen & Climbers of Color Are Closing the Mountaineering Gap

Nguyen is frank about his observations of the guiding industry. It looks like “rich old white dudes in charge of a younger set of rich white dudes in charge of a poor set of white dudes.” His goal is to change that.

Hey Brown Girl, Get Paid

Today we’re challenging the widespread assumption that People of Color should do outdoor diversity, equity and inclusion work for free—just because it’s an important social cause. It is important. And we’re still charging.

No, Where Are You Really From? Women of Color In Skydiving Speak, Pt 2

‘No where are you really from’ is a familiar question for Women of Color who are constantly asked to either prove our American-ness or explain our Other-ness when we really just want to sit-fly.

No, Where Are You Really From? Women of Color in Skydiving Speak, Pt I

“We are not asking for it and women shouldn’t be expected to smile and silently put up with this harassment so we can be part of the skydiving community.”

Skydiving as a Woman of Color

Team Blackstar gave me the freedom to stop pretending I don't notice when I'm the only person of color at my drop-zone. Yes we see color. And we realize the lack of diversity isn't a neutral thing.

Grief, Trauma and Loss in the Outdoors

Then there’s the one time I used duct tape, super glue, and butterfly sutures to close a friend's eyebrow that was split from the mid-line to the corner of his eye.

Send It! Your Guide to Adventure Sports

Part of what makes shared culture in outdoor recreation so great is the shared vocabulary. However, having to learn an entirely new lexicon can be off putting or intimidating to newcomers. Get a head start with our deep dive into adventure sports lingo.

#ProjectDiversify

Are you a Woman of Color who loves the Outdoors? Want to be featured in a video project that's all about your goals and accomplishments? Melanin Base Camp is teaming up with Brown Girls Climb on Project Diversify Outdoors to highlight the accomplishments of Women of Color in the Outdoors.

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