Pigtown Climbs in the News
Pigtown Climbs: How a nonprofit is making climbing more inclusive in Baltimore
Jasmine Vaughn-Hall | August 15, 2023 | The Baltimore Banner
Stenie Simon was indifferent when she went to a climbing gym in Hampden with a group of friends. Then something caught her attention as they were about to leave.
It was a beautiful Black woman scaling the top of the climbing wall. It inspired Simon to want to climb consistently.
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Pigtown Climbs is a community organization that is attempting to use the sport of rock climbing to promote health, racial justice and environmental initiatives. An eight-member board of directors and 300 volunteers are now transforming an overgrown lot on the Pigtown Mainstreet Corridor into an accessible community climbing and gathering space made for Black people, Indigenous people and people of color. The organization based in Southwest Baltimore filed last month to be a nonprofit group.
Pigtown Climbs seeks to build community by involving the community with its fresh vision
Stephanie Garcia | November 12, 2021 | Washington Post
BALTIMORE — The abandoned lot in Pigtown on Washington Boulevard sat empty for 60 years. Now a group dedicated to equitable development and environmental justice wants to build a climbing gym there. But before one rock is scaled, its leaders are talking to the community.
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So far, seven neighborhoods in Southwest Baltimore have had many of their doors knocked on in the efforts to gather information about what people want in a gym. Over 130 survey responses have been received, with residents asking for youth programs as well as pottery and yoga classes. Others have called for beautification projects and artist talks.
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Pigtown Climbs is Transforming an Abandoned Lot Into an Outdoor Rec Center
Oyin Adedoyin | April 6, 2021 | Baltimore Magazine
“The outdoors was kind of like my backyard,” says Padro, a North Carolina native who handles marketing for Pigtown Climbs. “When I moved up here, I realized that access was taken away. And then I also realized, as a school teacher, my students had never experienced these spaces. [It was easy to] merge that alignment to what Pigtown Climbs wanted to do.”
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Along with improving community access to outdoor environments, one of the group’s big-picture goals is to dismantle stereotypes regarding what a climber looks like. That’s part of the reason why it was imperative to Horne that the organization be made up of majority Black women.
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Outdoor Climbing Facility Planned for Pigtown
Kevin Lynch | November 4, 2020 | SouthBmore.com
An outdoor climbing facility called Pigtown Climbs is planned for a 4,400 sq. ft. empty lot in Pigtown at 938 Washington Blvd. Pigtown Climbs, which will be a nonprofit, was launched by Pigtown resident Bri’Anna Horne in partnership with the property owner 930 Group LLC.
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Horne met the owners of 930 Group LLC at a neighborhood plant giveaway at the lot over the summer at which time the owners told her they wanted it to be used as a community space. She proposed a climbing facility and they liked the idea and told her she could start planning it.
Earth Treks': 2020 Global Climbing Day Nominee
Earth Treks Rockville | August 22, 2020 | facebook.com/Earth.Treks.Rockville
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Happy Global Climbing Day everyone! In celebration of the leaders in our community pushing for change, accessibility, inclusivity and the future of climbing, our region would love to highlight Pigtown Climbs (@pigtownclimbs)!
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Led by members of the local climbing community, Pigtown Climbs is dedicated to making a bouldering space for everyone. The North Face posed a question this year: “what was the wall you faced and how did you crush it?”
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Challenging Racism in the Outdoor Industry and the Light at the End of the Tunnel
by Edith Han | August 11th, 2020| Midatlanticclimbers.org
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Hello fellow Mid-Atlantic climbers! We hope that you have been able to stay safe and healthy this sweltering summer so far. The past few months has been an emotionally intense time for the climbing community as a whole, as voices that have been speaking up against racism in our community are starting to be amplified and listened to.
Amongst all of this, we would like to highlight some recent developments for you in hopes that we can continue to strive for an anti-racist and more inclusive climbing community.