The climbers faced a tight deadline — they wanted to get those names changed before a new edition of New River Rock, the Gorge’s rock climbing guidebook, went to the printers.
The new book hit shelves in late July. Inside Appalachia reporter Zack Harold recently checked in with DJ Grant, a climber who helped kickstart the effort to change the names, to see if climbers were successful in their efforts.
Transcript has been edited for clarity.
For those that might not have heard the first story, can you talk to us a little bit about the issues that arose in the New River Gorge climbing community last year?
DJ Grant: Last year a group of climbers and myself were really upset about the names that were in the New River guidebook. Some of the names were racist, misogynistic, homophobic, sexist, and just downright offensive. And so we reached out to NRAC, the New River Alliance of Climbers, to ask them if they could fix it. And they were mostly on board with helping us fix it.
So once you had brought up this issue to them, a procedure was created to go about having these names changed. Can you describe what that process was?
We usually asked the demographic that we thought would be offended by these names. And whenever consensus was drawn that these names were offensive, we brought it on the table. We reached out to the first ascensionists and asked them if they were willing to change the names.
It has traditionally been the first person to successfully climb a route — the first ascensionist in the lingo — who has been allowed to name the routes. It’s so interesting to me that you gave them first dibs at renaming these routes. Because, one, it preserves the legacy of these folks. And two, it allows them to right the wrongs that they created by naming these routes offensive things.
So how did it go? Did the first ascensionists agree to change the names?
We got all the names we wanted to get changed, changed. Yeah, it was a success.
There are so many areas of our culture where a minority group of people says, “This is offensive. This brings up bad things for me and I don’t like it.” And so many times, the other side is so entrenched in tradition that they just refuse to change. And here, even the old guard were willing to say, “Okay, I see what you mean, let’s move forward.”
Zack Harold
/
New issues of “New River Rock” include a message from those who helped petition to change the route names.
They were more willing to help us when we explained, “You’re not racist. We understand that times have changed. You’re helping us and your legacy will stay there.”
Is there anything in the new guidebook to let readers know about the work that you and others put into removing these offensive names?
There is an excerpt in the book that says what we did and why we did it. It’s just telling the next generation, “We had these hard conversations so you didn’t have to. We fought for change. Change wasn’t a right. It was something that we fought for. It was something that we did for you. It’s something that we did because we love you.”
Have there been other changes to the guidebook that makes it more inclusive?
That’s the best part. Not only have the names been changed, but now there’s more representation. There’s pictures of black and brown climbers. Pictures of female climbers. There’s pictures of not only white climbers, but Asian, Black, brown — all shapes and sizes on the walls. It’s no longer a white man’s book. It’s everybody’s book. It’s everyone’s sport.
Have you got your copy yet?
I have my copies. Yes.
What was that experience like flipping through for the first time?
Honestly, the book was so light because it was free of so much hate. No pain. I teared up. Because knowing that we made significant change, no other person will feel the pain that we felt.
There are two volumes to the New River climbing guide. This was volume two. Are you guys working on volume one now? I assume there are names in that volume that also merit changing.
Volume one, we have reached out to a lot of first ascentionists. A lot of the first ascentionists are onboard with the name changes as well.
Do you have any idea when the first edition might go back to press?
It’s going to be a while, unless the public does a push for a new reprint.
Thank you so much for taking the time to me, and thank you so much for the work you and the rest of NRAC are doing to make the gorge a more inclusive and welcoming place.
Robby Moore usually doesn’t put his work in exhibits he curates. But this time he had something he felt he needed to express. Moore’s the executive director of the Beckley Art Center (BAC.)
“My whole life I’ve experienced sort of a silent racism,” Moore said. “Some of that is because we think of the civil rights movement in the distant past but it’s really close. My parents went to segregated high schools. I still live in a neighborhood that for many of my friends and neighbors when I tell them where I live you get a certain look and sometimes it goes beyond the look they just simply express that that’s ‘the bad part of town.
“I’ve lived here for 41 years and I think it’s a very nice part of town. It’s my home.”
Robby Moore
/
Robby Moore created a piece called “Black History Month” for the art exhibition called Social Studies.
The BAC’s Dan and Cynthia Bickey Art Gallery is hosting the Social Studies exhibition. He says it’s meant to bring deep, thoughtful conversation about social studies and social justice.
“We have pieces that address mountaintop removal, poverty, women’s rights, voting, censorship, gun violence, racism and the Black Lives Matter movement,” Moore said.
Courtesy, Robby Moore
/
Paula Clendenin created a piece called, “White Wash,” that’s part of the art exhibition called “Social Studies.”
The exhibition includes 14 West Virginia artists and one artist from Virginia/Pennsylvania. Some of the work was inspired during the pandemic, like finding something to do with all of the plastic bags that seemed to accumulate in homes across the country.
“Normally, I would go physically to the store and use reusable bags,” said artist and Tamarack Foundation programming manager Domenica Queen. “Because I wanted to stay out of the stores and not only protect myself, but also not add my risk factors to the situation. I ended up ordering, curbside pickup groceries pretty regularly. There were plastic bags coming in from that.”
Courtesy Robby Moore
/
Domenica Queen created a piece called “Overlap” by rug hooking with plastic bags for the art exhibition called Social Studies.
She’s also an artist who creates with paint. During the lockdown of the pandemic, she felt uninspired so she sat down her paint brushes and picked up the Appalachian tradition of rug hooking with a modern, plastic, twist. Instead of using fabric, Queen used plastic in her rugs.
“You might not consider it, but art supplies do get kind of pricey,” Queen said. “It’s really fun to be able to be really exuberant with my use of the material. I don’t have to be conservative. I don’t have to think, ‘well, I’m gonna have to buy another tube of paint or another canvas.’ I mean, it’s trash. I’m playing with trash, so there’s no waste that’s going to happen.”
Queen learned the technique from fellow artist Susan Feller. Feller says it’s a forgivable craft.
“Take my five minute lesson in how to use the hook and go with it,” Feller said. “I don’t care what fabric you use, use plastic bags for all I care.”
Susan Feller
/
Each loop is made by pushing the hook through loose weave of backing to pull up the strip of fabric (or yarns) when the loop is up, the hook moves on to another hole just far enough away to be hidden with the next loop. On and on until done. Changing strips is by cutting fabric off on top, and hooking a new color in the same hole.
Feller uses rug-hooking pieces to create what she calls an honest view of her surroundings in West Virginia.
“I think there’s a beautiful story to tell with our natural surroundings,” Feller said. “We live here in the Appalachian in the Potomac Highlands. I look out on a forest. So it’s gorgeous.
“But as we’re driving on the manmade highways that go scenically, we see the windmills and the turbine and that type of utility. We see the coal processing and down in the lower part of the state, certainly the mountaintop removal. Those things are just subtle awareness for people traveling through as tourists. But I do know that all of us live amongst it and are in conflict.”
Courtesy
/
Susan Feller’s piece called “Mountaintop Removal Puzzle” is part of the Social Studies exhibition at the Beckley Art Center.
Some of Feller’s work is also part of the “Social Studies” exhibition at the Beckley Arts Center. The framed pieces of carefully hooked fabric might look pretty, but the title has a much deeper story. It’s called “Mountaintop Removal Puzzle.”
Feller, like Moore and other artists in this showcase, hopes to create conversations around these social issues.
Domenica Queen hopes those conversations include questions.
“I’m not really looking for people to have a certain interpretation,” Queen said. “I’m just trying to fill their head with questions. Is that plastic? What was that before? Why did they make those shapes?
“I mostly want people to have questions because questions are really more useful than answers most of the time, especially when you’re talking about hoping for change. Change only comes through asking questions.”
Courtesy Robby Moore
/
Mollie Schaidt created a piece called, “Dad’s Legs Are Breaking Down, But He Still Has to Work,” for the art exhibition called Social Studies at the Beckley Art Center.
The artists shared some photos of their work for this story, but they suggest visiting the gallery to experience this exhibit and take in all of the textures — in person — to get a better appreciation for the show.
The exhibition will be up through June 19 in Beckley.
Standing at the base of “The Hole,” a gargantuan rock formation in West Virginia’s New River Gorge, you can hear water coming down the mountainside, rushing to the river below. Looking up, you’d see the rock shooting hundreds of feet overhead, curving as it goes, to form an imposing-looking overhang.
On a recent fall day, you also would have seen a man powering his way up the craggy face. He moved fast — finding handholds here and footholds there. The only things that protected him from falling on the jagged boulders below were some rope, some carabiners clipped into metal anchors that have been drilled into the rock, and his partner, who stood on solid ground, holding one end of his rope.
The climber worked his way higher and higher. Then, all of a sudden, he came swooping down toward the ground.
“It wasn’t my best go. Next time,” said climber DJ Grant.
Grant lives in Pittsburgh, but drives down to the New River Gorge nearly every weekend during the warmer months, to climb rocks like The Hole. He got into the sport five years ago.
“It was actually because I was fighting depression and I went to the gym and I loved it. Even now if I’m having a bad day or a bad week, I go climbing and it helps me a lot,” he said. “It’s a puzzle. You have to challenge yourself into solving a puzzle not based on your strength but on your technique and your own ingenuity. So it’s physically active but it’s also mentally stimulating.”
Grant has recently become obsessed with solving one particular puzzle — the climbing route known as “Blood Raid.”
“Like for me, I don’t like failure. I’m also afraid of heights. So it’s me fighting the fear, me fighting the fact that I’m going to fail. It’s everything I hate, climbing embodies. And I love that,” he said.
Zack Harold
/
Grant begins his ascent of “Blood Raid.”
Blood Raid was established and named back in the 1980s by the climber Doug Reed. That’s how it works in the climbing world. Develop a route, and it’s yours to name. But this tradition has come under scrutiny of late.
“If you climb a route for the very first time you traditionally get to name it. It’s just a tradition, not a right. That’s what we’re arguing about right now,” Grant said. “Is that just because you climbed it first, you decide to be juvenile and name it something racist, you don’t get to say you’re not racist or something like that. Just change it.”
The argument Grant referenced started in May. He came down to the Gorge with some climbing buddies on Memorial Day weekend, to celebrate his birthday.
“We are climbing at this wall. There was a route called “Tigger.” It had “Another Tigger in the Morgue” and “Hard Pipe-Hitting Tiggers,” which are both plays on the N-word. And I was really offended by it,” said Grant, who is Black. “It was the first time I realized something like a name could ruin my entire time. I didn’t want to go anywhere close to that wall, I didn’t want to touch it, I didn’t want to look at it. It was so offensive and so hurtful. It ruined by day. It almost ruined my entire trip.”
These offensive names live in a two-volume guidebook called “New River Rock,” which has directions to and descriptions of 3,000 climbing routes in the gorge. Nearly 100 have similarly offensive names.
There are climbing routes with names like “Tar Baby” and “Slave Fingers.” There’s a whole series of climbs named for the racist character Sambo, like “Sambo Goes to Disneyland.” And the list goes on and on.
“So here’s a cool one. Kool Krux Klimbing with all Ks? Yeah,” Grant said.
Grant said these names have upset him for years. But until recently, he felt powerless to do anything about it. Then two important things changed. For one, his 10-year-old son started climbing with him.
“The defining moment is, when can I allow my son to open a guidebook and read it and not be worried about him asking me questions? What’s a tar baby? What’s slave fingers? What’s Kool Krux Klimbing? Hey daddy, is that KKK? I don’t want to have those conversations. I want to be able to have my kid enjoy the outdoors,” he said.
The other thing that changed for Grant was the nationwide protests that followed the death of George Floyd, a Minnesota man who died after a police officer used his knee to pin Floyd’s neck to the ground for several minutes.
Eventually, conversations about police brutality shifted to include the wider problem of racism in America. The world of rock climbing began its own conversations — because no matter where you go, from the Red River Gorge of Kentucky to the Ten Sleep Canyon in Wyoming, racist route names are a problem.
Grant and his partner Natalie reached out to the New River Alliance of Climbers, better known as NRAC, an advocacy group that represents climbers’ interests in the Gorge. They asked the group to acknowledge the racism in the climbing culture.
At first, they got no response. But after a few weeks, NRAC’s board reached out and set up a Zoom call in late July with Grant and other climbers of color. They wanted to discuss how to make rock climbing in the Gorge more diverse. The issue of the names came up pretty quickly during the call.
“It could start with the route names,” climber Ronnie Black, a Black climber in Vermont who has climbed in the New River Gorge for years, told the Zoom assembly. “Just coming from out of town, to a climbing area, looking at that guidebook, it’s damn near impossible to climb a route called ‘The Racist’ and go and camp in the woods and not feel like you’re going to get lynched when you go to sleep.”
Grant was also on the call, and stressed that NRAC should facilitate getting the names changed.
“You guys know each other and I don’t think we as a marginalized community should have to reach out to the first ascensionist and say ‘Hey we don’t like this, can you please change it?’” he said. “We think NRAC should be the liaison between us and the community and say, ‘We think you should change this.’”
This idea — to have the people who christened these routes to change the names — is more complicated than it sounds, because some of these routes have been around for over 30 years and their creators are scattered all over the country.
A screenshot from the July 28, 2020 Zoom call that NRAC held with minority climbers to talk about racism in the climbing community.
And what if the first ascensionists don’t want to change the name? In that case, NRAC might just re-name it for them.
Gene Kistler, NRAC board president, liked the idea.
“When I look at climbing and how much it’s changed, when I started climbing, for years there weren’t even women climbing. Today’s it’s so different,” Kistler said. “I don’t think anybody here would have an issue. There have been some issues with the name changes and preserving history and people are struggling.”
“But I think all that’s process. And the fact of the matter is, changing the names is a really simple lift compared to what’s next,” Kistler said.
NRAC quickly formed a Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Committee — JEDI for short — and started trying to figure out how many names needed to be changed.
Members of the committee went through the guidebook page by page and ended up with a list of 92 route names that ridicule some type of minority group: Black people, Asian people, LGBT folks, people living with disabilities. There are all kinds that are offensive to women. A lot of the names can’t be said on the radio.
There’s a deadline to get this work done, too. A new edition of the guidebook’s second volume will go to press this fall. After that, it will likely be a long time before another edition is printed. So, if NRAC doesn’t get the names in that volume changed quickly, they will sit on bookshelves for years to come.
Mikey Williams compiled the first comprehensive New River Gorge climbing guidebook back in 2008. He is preparing the new edition too. He also used to be a member of the NRAC board until he resigned a few months ago, partially because he says the organization shouldn’t be wading into what he sees as social justice issues.
Zack Harold
/
Guidebook author Mikey Williams outside Bridge Bound Campers, his custom adventure van business in Fayetteville.
“As the guidebook author, it made sense to recuse myself. Then I look at this list and I’m like, man, it’s frustrating,” he said. “Any of the names that had a reference to the N word, for sure. You’re like, OK. That was bad. And the Kool Krux Klimbing, all spelled with K’s? Like, come on man. How could we not have seen this? Let’s get the KKK stuff out of the book.”
But there are other names on the list that Williams did not see as offensive, including some of the routes he personally named.
“Here’s the route description for the route ‘Aryan Race.’ ‘A sustained pump race of reflective white rock that’s steeper than a Hitler salute,’” he said. “Probably not in the best taste, but to me I had no idea it would be … offensive isn’t the word for it. I never thought that would be taken as a celebration of white supremacy. I’m certainly not a white supremacist. I’ve got no love for Hitler. Being able to use that description, it’s such a colorful, accurate description of the route.”
Williams said the route name “Aryan Race” pokes fun at the Third Reich, but when the name is taken out of context, it becomes offensive. He’s not the only one that feels this way. Several climbers have pushed back on NRAC’s renaming efforts because, they said, the original climbers weren’t trying to be racist or offensive. But Grant and other climbers advocating for name changes point out that context doesn’t appear anywhere in the books.
“I don’t get the context so why are you defending the context of it, when for 20 years I wasn’t given the context? It’s only after I voice my opinion and my concerns about it that you tell me it’s not racist because it was done in such a way,” Grant said.
The first ascensionists NRAC has approached so far seem to agree with Grant. Each has agreed to change their route names. Even Williams said he’s trying to decide what he’ll rename “Aryan Race.”
“Now I realize that, while I was laughing, not everybody was laughing,” Williams said.
For his part, Grant said he’s happy with the progress NRAC has made so far with getting the names changed. But the damage is done. Some routes are always going to bring up bad memories, even once they’re called something else.
“A lot of these routes I will never get back on because I know the backstory of it. Any of the ‘Tigger’ routes, I refuse to climb, ever, because of the backstory on it,” Grant said. “But I would love for someone, I would love for my child to not know the name of it and get on it and enjoy it.
“But for me, I’m still hurt by it,” he adds. “I’m still hurt by what it was. I’m still offended by it. But I hope the next person who gets on it is not offended by it. That’s all I’m hoping for. That the next person can enjoy it more than I can ever enjoy it.”
In a virtual press briefing Friday, Gov. Jim Justice addressed a letter sent to him by West Virginia House of Delegates member Danielle Walker, a Democrat from Monongalia County.
The letter called on Justice to address a rise in white supremacy and messages of hate across West Virginia.
Justice said he had received Walker’s letter and ordered the state police and the West Virginia Human Rights Commission to reach out to Walker and look into the issue.
“We don’t need to tolerate at any level, any level of hate and hatred and hate speech … anywhere at any time,” Justice said.
Walker’s letter recalled participating in a Black Lives Matter event in Kingwood on Sept. 12. What was promoted as a peaceful event, reportedly turned hostile when those protesting racial injustice were met by counter protesters.
Walker said another event in Morgantown the following day was also met with several of the same counter protesters.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations released a statement Friday, condemning the messages of hate Walker received. The group is the nation’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization.
Debra Corbett always loved education. Coming from a family of educators, it was something she said she always wanted to do. Her mother, aunts and uncles were all teachers.
“I heard a lot about, when the family got together, about school, about kids,” Corbett said. “It made me want to be in education … to somehow support parents and make a difference in student lives.”
Corbett retired this year after 31 years as principal of Ranson Elementary School in Ranson, Jefferson County. Prior to that, she was an elementary school teacher. She said her biggest takeaways in her career are the importance of compassion, to be gentle, to show support to teachers and students and help them see they can succeed.
As Corbett leaves her long career in education, teachers, parents, staff and students across West Virginia begin a new school year in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic.
Nine West Virginia counties started the new school year off virtually this week. The other 46 counties are offering in-person, virtual and hybrid schooling for, at least, the first week of school. That could change next weekend.
Every Saturday night, state officials will update a color-coded map found on the West Virginia Department of Education’s website. The map indicates what schooling options will exist in each county week-by-week. This is how West Virginia is tackling school this year in the face of the coronavirus – taking it one week at a time.
Corbett’s advice to teachers during this turbulent time is to offer comfort to students and be kind to themselves.
“Just take a deep breath,” she said. “We can’t get everything accomplished in one day. It’s just going to take some time to go through this pandemic time and do the best that we can.”
But another global event has rattled the world this year – a reckoning in racial justice in the United States. People across the country and the world have taken to the streets to protest the treatment of Black people by police. Marches and rallies have been held in recent months demanding change following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police.
Corbett, who is Black, completed kindergarten through sixth grade when schools were racially segregated.
Ranson Elementary School, Corbett said, is a culturally diverse school with a diverse demographic of students. She said many of her students are Black or English Language Learners (ELL). She said she has tried hard to create a safe environment for students at school.
“Well, being a Black administrator, it has just opened up my eyes even more,” she said. “With everything going on at this time, I do think of the kids and what they’re seeing on TV, and even what they’re hearing and what they’re experiencing in their family and in their homes, too … [I want] to make sure that they can come to [school] and that they know that they’re in a safe environment, and that they know that someone is there to just listen to them.”
She said it’s more important than ever for teachers to use education to help bridge the gap created by systemic racism.
“Systemic racism – those inherited biases and prejudices of different policies and practices, you know, that have just been handed down, generation to generation – it just doesn’t go away overnight,” she said. “That’s why it’s so important for the teachers to expose the students [to] all types of cultures in their lessons and their reading and in class. And I think that’s one way that we can come together.”
Credit Jefferson County Schools
/
Debra Corbett helps students get their breakfast during a summer program in July 2018 called Rising Rockets at Ranson Elementary School.
Corbett grew up in Jefferson County and attended Jefferson County Schools, graduating with the last class from Charles Town High School in 1972. Corbett earned her bachelor’s degree from Fairmont State University and began her teaching career at South Jefferson Elementary School in 1976 before teaching overseas for several years.
Corbett earned her master’s degree from the University of Toledo before returning to West Virginia and teaching at Wright Denny Intermediate School. In 1989, Corbett left Wright Denny and was named principal of Ranson Elementary School.
“This experience has truly made me a better person,” she said. “And I will miss it after 39 years with Jefferson County Schools.”
As the nation continues to grapple with conversations over police brutality and racism, some police departments are trying to tackle the problem by teaching better communication skills and recognizing bias among their officers.
Police in Jefferson County recently completed a two-day training focused on de-escalation, implicit bias and racial profiling.
About two dozen police officers gathered inside a spacious room, upstairs in the Charles Washington Hall in downtown Charles Town last week. They all work in Jefferson County. Most of them are city police in Charles Town, with some from Ranson and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. Most of the police at the training were white men, but three were women, including one who was Black.
These officers came together to learn skills in de-escalation, which means to approach confrontations with respect, empathy and calm communication.
Cpl. Jason Newlin, who’s white, has 18 years of policing experience, most at the Charles Town Police Department. He said the last time he had training in de-escalation was in 2002.
“I think training like this will show the general public that we’re making an attempt to retrain our thought process and, you know, retraining the way that certain situations can be handled in the way that we speak to people,” Newlin said. “Every human being, whether they’re on the right side of the law or not, have an expectation to be treated with dignity and respect.”
Annual de-escalation training isn’t mandatory in Charles Town, but some West Virginia cities, such as Morgantown, do make it mandatory. Newlin said he thinks training in de-escalation and racial profiling need to happen more often.
“Technology advances, why shouldn’t our training? We have to shoot our guns twice a year to maintain state qualifications for weapons that some have never ever had to use in the field,” he said.
But they don’t receive regular training in communication skills, which Newlin points out, is one of the things they use most.
All police officers in West Virginia are required to have 16 hours of state-approved, in-service, or continued education training annually, according to Charles Town Police Chief Chris Kutcher. It’s department heads, like him, who decide what these annual trainings will include.
“Let’s face it, we know what’s going on in the country. It’s a hot topic. You know, as the chief, I felt now is a really good time to look at our de-escalations, look at our racial profiling,” Kutcher said. “My focus with this is to give the officers some tools, things to think about when they’re out interacting with our public here in Charles Town.”
Kutcher said this was the first training held by his department that took such an in-depth look at de-escalation, racial profiling and bias.
The training was led by Silver State Consulting, a law enforcement and police training group based in Las Vegas, Nevada. They focused the first day on de-escalation techniques for addressing verbal confrontations. They emphasized the importance of speaking calmly, asking questions, like “how can I help?” and being respectful at all times.
The second day, police officers learned about implicit, or unconscious, bias and racial profiling. The instructor emphasized that everyone has implicit bias and discussed ways to recognize when this is a problem.
“When you’re being trained to be a law enforcement officer, you’re trained on how to do the job, but you’re not trained on how to interact with people,” said Robert Woolsey, the owner of the Silver State Consulting group who led the two-day training in Charles Town. Woolsey is also a former police officer and police chief.
He said police are the public face of government, so it’s hugely important for them to have good people skills and remain positive while interacting with the community.
“Most people see a police officer every single day, but they never see their mayor or their governor or the president of the United States,” he said. “And so, as a very visible presence in the community, it’s something that needs to be taught. We just never thought to do it. We never really put the emphasis on how to communicate and how to interact with folks.”
Woolsey said criminal justice reform as a whole is necessary to address the problems of racism and the high incarceration rate of people of color. He said recognizing mental health issues among police officers, suspending them when necessary and training in de-escalation and racial profiling are keys to a better policing system.
At least one other West Virginia police department, Morgantown, held a similar training earlier this year. According to a department spokesperson, Morgantown holds de-escalation and anti-bias training annually.
West Virginia Public Broadcasting also reached out to the Charleston, Wheeling and Huntington Police Departments for comment on their own de-escalation training, but they did not immediately respond for comment.
