Dawn Wall and Free Solo took up so much screen time, so much cultural space, that I am left feeling as though none of the work around diversity in the outdoor industry is ever going to pan out if we keep bolstering straight, cis-gendered, white men as demigods. Can we call these movies out at least for what they are not? They are not motivational for a lot of people and they definitely do not unite us in our struggles to succeed. They’re aesthetically pleasing (shoutout to Yosemite, lands of the Ahwahneechee peoples) projects that don’t really delve into any of our shared human experiences within the systems built by white men. These films send out that same, exhausting message “Hey, just keep trying and you’ll get there and you’ll have earned it when you do!” In the meantime, black communities, indigenous communities, PoC communities, LGBTQ2S+, neurodivergent, disabled/adaptive communities, and the list goes on, are having to have conversations about this movie on white guy’s terms: no mention of barriers to access and the real ripple effects of colonial history.

There is beauty in facing your own inward struggle through climbing, anyone who’s climbed has experienced that. How we are equipped to navigate that struggle is what matters. It’s harder if we are constantly feeling unsafe or undeserving. What if our outward existence is barring us from ever thinking outside of the box? When I am belaying someone new to climbing that I can tell is working through trauma, and I can make space for them to access climbing and maybe even heal some of that trauma, that feels radical to me. I want the makeup of the climbing community to permeate beyond the current, stringent storylines of these movies to also settle in bodies that look nothing like Caldwell’s or Honnold’s. Not to take away from their achievements but they should know the spotlight has been on white guys long enough. It’s time to make room for other narratives, for success to take on different shapes and hues.