It’s time to talk about gatekeeping in outdoor recreation.
There’s been a growing tendency to describe the decision not to share a geotag as “gatekeeping.” I don’t think that’s an accurate use of the term. Choosing not to post the exact location of a trail, climb, ski run, or other outdoor objective isn’t gatekeeping when that information is already widely available through countless public resources.
We have the entire internet. Trails, climbing routes, ski areas, and other objectives can be found through guidebooks, maps, public databases, forums, social media groups, and apps such as Gaia GPS, CalTopo, and onX. Choosing not to provide another precise location pin isn’t preventing someone from participating.
But there are behaviors in outdoor recreation that really are gatekeeping.
Shaming beginners for what they wear is gatekeeping. Shaming people because of their body size is gatekeeping. Excluding people because of their race, appearance, background, or perceived experience is gatekeeping. So is creating an environment where people feel they have to look or act a certain way before they are welcome.
Terms like “gaper” and “gumbie” can contribute to that culture. While experienced participants may use them casually or jokingly, they can make newcomers feel like outsiders. When someone is just discovering climbing, skiing, mountaineering, or another outdoor activity, being ridiculed for not knowing something can be enough to make them decide they don’t belong.
I’ve experienced this from the other side.
I’ve been climbing for 35 years, skiing for 45 years, and working as a professional climbing guide for 26 years. I’m AMGA-certified in rock and alpine guiding, and I have spent a substantial portion of my life working with ropes and teaching technical skills.
Several years ago, however, I decided to take a course in swiftwater canyoning. I was the beginner again.
Before the course, the instructors showed us videos of people doing things incorrectly. They laughed at the people in the videos and made fun of their mistakes.
I remember thinking, I probably would have done that.
Instead of making me feel prepared to learn, the exercise made me uncomfortable. I was an experienced professional entering a new area of outdoor recreation, and I suddenly understood how intimidating that kind of environment could be for someone with little or no experience.
That experience stuck with me.
Being a beginner means not knowing things. It means making mistakes. It means asking questions that experienced people may think are obvious. If we want more people to participate in outdoor recreation, we should make room for that learning process rather than ridicule it.
The distinction is important: protecting information, places, or resources from unnecessary impacts is not the same thing as excluding people.
Not every location needs to be geotagged. Not every secret corner of the mountains needs to be broadcast to thousands of people. And choosing not to share a precise location isn’t inherently an attempt to keep people out.
But making someone feel unwelcome because they’re new, inexperienced, differently shaped, differently dressed, or unfamiliar with the culture of a particular activity? That’s a form of gatekeeping worth examining.
The outdoors should have room for experts, beginners, lifelong climbers, first-time skiers, and everyone in between.
We don’t need to eliminate standards or experience. We just need to remember what it feels like to be the person who hasn’t learned them yet.