The Climbing Initiative is a nonprofit supporting the sustainable and equitable growth of climbing worldwide. It began in 2019 as a research project at Yale University documenting the international expansion of climbing and its economic, social, and environmental effects. Now the group advises climbing organizations, spreads best practices, and works directly with climbing communities around the world to help them flourish.

Today I sit down with Executive Director Veronica Baker to discuss the mission of The Climbing Initiative (TCI) and the challenges they – and we, as the global climbing community – face. 

We also discuss their Best Practices project – a collection of living documents that is gathering the voices of climbing leaders around the world to shape the future development of our sport.

As climbing grows, it is having incredible economic, social, and environmental impacts. Climbers are creating new hotspots for ecotourism, building tight-knit communities, advocating for the conservation of natural areas, and using climbing to uplift and inspire.

In their work partnering with local climbing communities, they’ve connected with many climbing leaders paving the way with innovative approaches. As a result, the Best Practices are focused on six main areas:

• crag development & maintenance

• environmental conservation

• equity & inclusivity

• community engagement

• economic impact

• building climbing organizations