“Escaladora” touches on the powerful story of an OR ambassador and community activist leading change in the outdoors and climbing.Outdoor Research, the Seattle-based manufacturer of award-winning outdoor apparel, continues the important conversation about creating a more inclusive space in the outdoor community with its new film, Escaladora. The short film shares the story of a community leader and OR ambassador, Monserrat Alvarez Matehuala, who is creating a space where women of color can come together as a community through climbing.
Monserrat grew up in Raleigh, N.C. and began climbing while working as an outdoor educator. It was in Colorado that she began building a richer climbing community through Brown Girls Climb and organizations like Women’s Wilderness. In the film, Monserrat – who finds inspiration from her mother and a deep connection to her heritage – shares the powerful story of creating safe spaces for women of color through climbing. When asked what her role is, Monserrat responds:
“Creating community. Everything I do, from my job, to my passion projects and my spirituality, that is what my role is: feeding the community, because it feeds me. That is what is so beautiful and powerful about climbing and the climbing community – it is healing. It makes me feel hopeful for the future.”
When Monserrat isn’t climbing or bringing the outdoor community together through climbing, she’s spending time with her Calpulli, learning her ancestral language, dancing and growing. And most recently, raising two chicks and three ducklings on her urban homestead in south Boulder.
You can view the film today on Outdoor Research’s YouTube Channel. For more information about Montserrat and other ambassadors paving the way to a more inclusive outdoor space, visit OutdoorResearch.com.
