Women
Photo:Michaela Tracy at the
2014 British
Bouldering
Championships, by Alex
Messenger /
BMC
Girl Can: Mountaineer’. Also, to the
BMC’s request, film maker Jen Randall
even put together a film to promote the
project. The campaign takes, perhaps a
less serious approach, using humorous
and sassy slogans such as: “I kick balls.
Deal with it.” and “My game face has
lipstick on it”. Although, this tongue and
cheek approach seems to have proved
successful, after 12 million people
have viewed the film and hundreds of
thousands of women are taking part.
The Women’s Climbing
Symposium - brain child of bouldering
Photo: World paraclimbing champion
Fran Brown, by Alex
Messenger / BMC
champion Shauna Coxsey - returned in
2014 for its fourth event. This was once
again a huge hit with 160 women taking
part. The idea came to Coxsey after
coaching a group of women, and realising
the issues female climbers have to face,
which she herself has never struggled
with. Being currently ranked second in
the world, Coxsey has always been a
hard climber who hasn’t been affected
by gender perhaps as much as other
women, and wanted to give something
back to the sport. The aim of the event?
Inspire, develop and connect. Last
year’s theme - beboldbebrave - focused
more on the mental aspect of climbing,
encouraging women to push their
boundaries, no matter what level they are
climbing at. The event features training
workshops such as, tricky feet, dynos
and even yoga. Throw in some talks with
top climbers such as Hazel Findlay and
Michaela Tracy, as well as a sneak peak
of Jen Randall’s film Project Mina, and
what more could you ask for? After all, it’s
not every day you get the opportunity for
a coaching lesson with top climbers like
Leah Crane and Mina Leslie-Wujastyk.
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