As Duluth grows more diverse, its adventure sports remain overwhelmingly white. These groups are working to change that.
Nine-year old Shawntaya Bible looks down at listens to some advice from David Pagel of the Duluth Climbers Coalition on Aug. 20 while rock climbing at Ely's Peak. | Derek Montgomery for MPR News
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By Dan Kraker
As adventure sports like climbing and mountain biking surge in popularity, they remain overwhelmingly white. According to the Outdoor Industry Association, about 75 percent of Americans who take part in outdoor sports are white. Yet they make up only about 60 percent of the overall population.
For Dave Pagel with the Duluth Climbers Coalition, that gap is especially concerning in Duluth, Minn., which has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent years, building mountain bike and cross country ski trails. The city also invested in a new ice climbing park and places to kayak and canoe in the St. Louis River.
"With this development comes a moral obligation to make sure that everyone in the city can enjoy those amenities," Pagel said. "We have to make sure that these don't become corridors of privilege."
The Boys and Girls Clubs of the Northland partnered with the Climbers Coalition to take about a dozen kids rock climbing in August. This afternoon of climbing was one small effort to try to address a larger problem, often referred to as the "adventure gap." [Read on for more]
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