Squamish festival gives women and LGBTQ2S+ climbers a space to call their own

Climbing has made some headway in the realm of inclusivity, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement. 

That’s why the Rock and Rise festival, geared for women and LGBTQ2S+ climbers, is back from June 26 to 28 in Squamish. This will be the second iteration of the event.

“Climbing spaces are still very white able-bodied cis-male saturated and our aim is to question the factors that are still driving this trend, challenge the stereotypes of what a rock climber should look [or] act like and come together in-person for a weekend of celebrating all the diverse folks that also share a passion for being outdoors and playing on rocks,” Bronwyn Hodgins, a pro climber and one of the festival organizers, told Gripped.

The festival got its start as the Treeline women’s climbing festival from 2017 to 2021. New organizers took over the event in 2023 and rebranded it as Rock and Rise, opening the door to include the LGBTQ2S+ community. 

“We also put additional work into learning about inclusive and safe spaces, and spoke to community leaders and affinity spokespeople on how we could better welcome BIPOC folks and other marginalised and underrepresented groups with the outdoor sports world,” said Hodgins. 

“This year we continue the work. For instance, we are currently learning about adaptive programming for folks with disabilities, which may play a small role in this year’s event and definitely is something we want to expand on for future years.”

The full weekend event will provide a place to camp out in the festival grounds, along with two days of clinics and evening events. 

During the event, a collection of mentors from diverse backgrounds will teach attendees everything from building your first anchor to photography, fear of falling, belaytionships and rock rescue. 

But while Rock and Rise is primarily a climbing festival, Hodgins said it’s also more than that.

It’ll have live music, a local artists’ market, a wellness practitioners tent, feature presentations by community leaders, morning yoga, a collaborative art project, a dance lesson for climbers followed by a dance party featuring local DJs, a community connections share board and Tai Chi with tea. 

“Everyone involved in this event identifies as female or genderqueer,” she said. 

“A cool thing about climbing is that it’s inherently non-gendered, especially in the outdoor climbing world. You compete against yourself, challenging your own abilities…At the very upper end of performance women are only slightly shy of men in terms of max grade ever climbed, which perhaps could have much more of a sociological backstory than a physiological one. At Rock and Rise, we truly believe that anyone can be a climber, and we want to offer access, encouragement and safety, and role models like you, for you to believe it.”

The event kicks off in the early evening of June 26 at the Brennan Park Municipal campground. Details on the festival and registration can be found here.

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