Access Fund Statement on Harassment and Assault

Harassment undermines the essence of our climbing community and is antithetical to our values. We stand united with others in the climbing community in condemning such behavior, both within our organization and in any and all climbing settings. 

Why is this a concern? In 2018, Access Fund joined 35 other climbing and outdoor organizations in supporting the launch of Safe Outside, an independent grassroots initiative* aimed at raising awareness of harassment and assault in climbing, and providing tools and resources for survivors and their supporters.

SafeOutside launched a survey of climbers that received 5,311 total responses, of which 48% identified as women, 70% were in the US, and had 10 years average length of time climbing. The survey results showed that, while participating in a climbing activity:

• 47% had experienced some kind of harassment

• 57% had experienced verbal harassment, 55% had been catcalled, ~41% had experienced unwanted touching and/or unwanted following, and 3% had been raped (~75 women). 

Access Fund has a clear stance on harassment and assault: it should never be tolerated, especially in the climbing community. If you are a survivor or a friend of someone who is, here are some important resources:

• https://helpingsurvivors.org/sexual-assault/how-to-report

• https://www.rainn.org/ThatsHarassment

We urge all climbers to support each other in upholding these standards and to safely intervene when necessary. Please help keep each other safe.

*American Alpine Club is hosting this landing page, but the #SafeOutside initiative and its associated output were not conducted or developed by the AAC.