Women Breaking Into Adventure Sports Around the World

Our generation of women has seen a woman run for President and, for the first time, a woman be appointed Secretary of State. Women are raising families and running businesses. On top of all this, women are now breaking into adventure sports around the world, a growing trend over the last five to ten years, says Beth Davis, the executive director at Women’s Wilderness Institute.

Not only are women getting into the outdoors more, outdoor programs are catering to women by offering gender-specific programs. Davis says there are a few reasons for gender-specific programming:

• Women and girls have different learning styles than boys and men.
• Women and girls have different bio-chemistry than men and boys, which causes them to process risk and stress differently and to form relationships differently.
• Programs specific to women and girls let them do what they are good at. Kathryn Damby, the assistant program director at Babes in the Backcountry, says if one male is present in a group it can change the whole group dynamic and cause women to shy away and sometimes lose confidence in their skills.

Davis also says there is generally less competition and more support in all-women’s groups. Surveys given to girls (8-18 years old) in the Women’s Wilderness Institute also show that women learn a lot about themselves while in the outdoors, Davis says.

“[The surveys] show that they have a sense of confidence, and that those women can tap into their own sense of power, their wants and needs, and know how to make things happen in the world,” she says.

Her Campus talked to a few young women who have gotten into adventure sports nationally and internationally. Now that you’ve heard what the experts have to say about the topic, let’s hear from the women within this growing trend.

Getting into it:

When Melissa Oberg was little, her parents would take her backpacking. She hated it, she says, but they kept making her go. Eventually, her kicking and screaming on the trails of Colorado evolved into a passion for trekking up Colorado’s peaks, as well as mountains around the world. While Oberg, a junior at Colorado State University, has been in the outdoors since childhood, Damby, a CSU alumna, and Heather Lindsey, a senior at CSU, got into outdoor adventures when they moved to Colorado. Both women say having greater access to the great outdoors, and finding others who shared this interest, spurred their interest in outdoor adventures.

Amazing Female Feats:

Oberg, Damby and Lindsey were all part of CSU’s first ever all-women’s international expedition in November of 2008. The women, along with other CSU women, travelled to Mexico to summit three volcanoes in ten days: La Malinche (14,600'), Orizaba (18,500') and Izztaccihuatl (17,200').
“We made history every step we took on those three peaks and nothing will ever compare to the memories,” Damby says.
But that’s not the only thing these adventurous women have been up to.

Damby has climbed in New Zealand and Argentina as well as nationally. While mountaineering is her favorite, she likes to dabble in a lot, she says. For Damby, getting outside means hiking, backpacking, whitewater kayaking, rock climbing, ice climbing, skiing and trail running.

Oberg has also climbed and hiked internationally. She climbed Huyana Potosi in Bolivia with a girlfriend and hiked the Salcanti route to Machu Picchu in Peru with her mom. She plans to do more mountaineering next year in Patagonia while she is in Chile.

Forming bonds, finding benefits

Aside from the benefits Davis mentioned, the women we talked to are finding that there is a sense of community and teamwork among women who climb together.

“If you are climbing together, you are putting all your trust and literally your life in others’ hands and with women, that bond can be formed so much deeper so much faster,” Damby says.
Oberg has found inspiration in her mom through hiking in Peru with her and climbing 14ers – any mountain above 14,000 feet, 54 of which are in Colorado—with her. She says her mom has inspired her to be outdoors and to have strong women in her life. From the other all-women’s groups Oberg has been in, she has seen the groups “…put our emotional and physical efforts together as a team instead of individuals pursuing the same goal.”

Damby, Oberg and Lindsey all say there is more encouragement and support in all-women’s groups. Being outdoors with women is less competitive because women try to form a community instead of compete with each other, Damby says.

Get Out

All three of these adventurous women say the best way to have an outdoor adventure is to grab a friend and get outside. While all-women’s groups have many benefits, these ladies say male friends are good to get out with too.

“If you can do it with a group of all women, that’s really empowering,” Oberg says. “But men are great and there are some men out there who have really pushed me.”

Don’t have outdoorsy friends? You can meet other outdoorsy folks by:

• Finding local meet-up groups in your area. www.meetup.com is a national Web site that allows you to search your area for any type of meet-up group.
• Use your on-campus resources. Join the ski club or outdoors club or find outdoors classes and programs at your school. The campus Rec Center might be able to help you with this.
• Look up your local climbing gym.
• Work in a national park over the summer and meet others from around the world who love the outdoors.

If you want to gain technical skills and meet people:

• Look into programs like the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). NOLS offers classes and programs nationally and internationally for varying ranges of outdoor activities and skill levels. Some of these programs can even be used for college credit.
• Look into all-women’s programs near you. Some of these offer one-time classes or memberships.

Sources:

Kathryn Damby, assistant program director for Babes in the Backcountry and Colorado State University alumna

Melissa Oberg, CSU junior

Heather Lindsey, CSU senior

Beth Davis, executive director for the Women’s Wilderness Institute

www.meetup.com

www.nols.edu