MÁS Climbing
A zine amplifying diversity and inclusivity in climbing media
By Bella Rojas, Nic Sabo, and Hiram Trejo | September 28, 2020
When you look at the image of a climber in contemporary media, what do you see? If you flipped through a climbing magazine, would you see your culture represented? Would the content be relatable?
MÁS is a collective of artists, photographers, and friends who have been asking themselves these questions and are dissatisfied with the answers. We are driven by the desire to see more, to expect more from climbing media and culture and have decided to take action for ourselves.
Rock climbing has always been an outsider’s sport. In fact, it is more than a sport; it is a lifestyle. Climbing is a counterculture for those who rebel against the mundane and ordinary, ignore the rules imposed upon them, and think differently. As the sport and industry have grown in popularity, climbing has begun to shift toward the mainstream. Yet, somehow, climbing is now the least accessible it’s ever been. Equipment brands are creating the most high-tech (read: expensive) gear ever, climbing shoes have broken the $200 mark, the rise of corporate gyms has driven membership prices up, and the list goes on. This is not inherently bad—we all love safe equipment and modern training facilities—but it creates barriers to entry and determines which demographics have the privilege of engaging in the climbing community. This naturally bleeds over into what and who gets represented in the media.
The demographics of climbing grow more culturally diverse by the day, and there are many amazing grassroots organizations putting in the work to help make that happen. However, it’s important to recognize that people of color are still a minority within the climbing community by an overwhelming margin. As such, we are often underrepresented, or misrepresented, by major brands and media outlets. The content created by pace-setters of climbing culture is intended to appeal to those with the money and social ties necessary to enter into the sport. It so often fails to portray cultural groups that exist on the margins. This ultimately translates to a distinct lack of content created for and by people of color—a vacuum of space that should be inhabited by climbers who deserve to be equally represented and equally valued.
Lack of representation and gatekeeping are not uncommon in outdoor sports communities. Due to the social and economic status required to even get started, the climbing world can be somewhat of a closed circle. To those on the outside, it can be challenging work to enter and find acceptance from a community that may not necessarily see things through the same perspective—things like how climbing or simply experiencing the outdoors should look and feel. To those on the inside, it’s often difficult to take a step back and notice this. Climbers are some of the most fun, vibrant, and conscious beings in the world. That’s all the more reason to expect only the best from our community.
The freedom afforded by independent publications is one way we as community members can disrupt the cycle of normative climbing media. To this end, MÁS was born to create media and tell diverse climbing stories in the best way we know how: documenting what we love through our own unique lens. Individual style, creativity of movement, and a sense of friendship and community are all reasons people fall in love with the sport, yet these same elements are often cropped out of hyper-polished conventional climbing media, which focuses heavily on grades and ad placement. Our goal is to create without replicating the same climbing content we’ve all seen for years. Images of that cutty camp spot near the boulders, tacos at the brewery, local cultural sites—to us, it’s all fair game. We want to show how we interact with the outdoors and show up in a way that is honest to ourselves. The concept of MÁS was built on our backgrounds in multiple subcultures and blended with our shared love for art, fashion, design, and film.
Promoting accessibility is a core value in everything we create with MÁS, which makes zine publications the perfect platform. Zines are typically small-circulation, self-published, and often inexpensive or free. They’re usually devoted to unconventional subject matter and are as much about the community as the product. Zine history is grounded in a DIY ethic and rebellious vibe—two qualities we want to see return in climbing media. MÁS zines were made for those with a special appreciation for the look, feel, smell, and taste of holding printed media in their hands.
Ultimately, we want whoever picks up our zine to see themselves in those pages, eliminating the pressure to embody any particular idea of what a “climber” must look like in order to claim that identity.
Instagram: @mas.world