Hundreds of people summit Mount Everest each year — but before this year, fewer than 10 of them were Black. In May, the first all Black team of climbers successfully reached the summit as part of the Full Circle Everest Expedition. Some members of the team were from Colorado.
KUNC’s Samantha Coetzee spoke with Eddie Taylor, a Full Circle Everest Team member and chemistry teacher from Boulder.
Interview Highlights:
These interview highlights have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Samantha Coetzee: To start, can you tell me how you ended up as a member of the Full Circle Everest team?
Eddie Taylor: So a couple of years ago, I was climbing into Ouray, Colorado, just on a normal climbing trip. And by chance, I ran into Phil Henderson, the leader of the expedition.
And really, we just started chatting here and there. We traded numbers. Next time I went to western Colorado, we went skiing together. And he told me about this project he was interested in and that he was starting to put together and asked if I'd be a part of it.
Coetzee: I assume he kind of explained the goal of the project to you a little bit. I mean, what drove you to be part of the expedition?
Taylor: Yeah. So, initially, he told me about it, and I wasn't incredibly interested. I'm a climber. I rock climb quite a bit, but big mountains are something that I kind of dabble in. Long story short, I wasn't that interested in going to Everest, and I really never saw it as this objective that was obtainable for me.
However, he kind of convinced me and talked about how I had a lot of experience and would be a great asset to the team. And then we started talking about kind of the bigger picture of it, and at that time we didn't even know quite the disparity of how many black people had been on Everest, other than there just wasn't very many.
And so kind of just by seeing the importance of representation and what this expedition could potentially do to future outdoor enthusiasts and other people who just want to be, not necessarily, like climbing, but just being in the outdoors, that this could be a powerful thing.
Coetzee: Right. You didn't really have your sights set on Everest. Just knowing a little bit about that expedition and climbing Everest in general it's not easy. It takes months of training, and there are obviously risks when you get to the mountain and acclimating and all that. What was your experience on Everest like?
Taylor: Luckily, my entire Everest experience was pretty smooth. We put a lot of time into planning — into getting ready for the trip.
And so, by the time we got there, I mean, it was just kind of like everything fell into place. Things were really smooth. Our rotations going up and down the mountain went smoothly, the weather worked out, and so weirdly, it wasn't that eventful because of how smoothly everything went. And you could just really enjoy that experience.
Coetzee: You mentioned how you and Phil chatted a bit about the bigger picture and how it's important for representation to get on the mountain. What did you and the team want to accomplish through the expedition?
Taylor: I think there were a lot of goals in the expedition. I mean, primarily, it's the tallest mountain in the world. As a climber or just as a person, there's something exciting about that, you know?
And so I think that was one thing that we all had in common was that, yeah, there is something exciting about climbing Everest.
Another thing was just that in terms of the outdoors, I think there's not a lot of black people in the outdoors. There's not a lot of people of color in the outdoors. If you Google climbing, skiing, or any of these sports, you're not going to see a lot of people that look like you.
And so that was one thing that hopefully through this trip, we thought we can kind of start to change the narrative and kind of give some type of … heritage to black climbers and more more people out there doing that.
And I think, like we said, there are ten people already who have climbed Everest, like there've been ten black people who have climbed Everest. But that took a lot of work and a lot of searching and a lot of digging to even find that because I easily found four people on Google, and other than that we didn't know.
And so, one big thing that was part of this trip was just trying to tell that story. And so other people could follow along and see that this is something that was possible.
Coetzee: When you look at climbing and the outdoors community in general, there really isn’t much diversity represented. Why is it so important for underrepresented communities to see themselves in this industry?
Taylor: I think it's just important in every industry, to be honest. Like in climbing in the outdoors, it's a space that people haven't felt comfortable in. But then you go to basketball and yeah, there was a time when there weren't very many black basketball players, and now there is.
I'm a teacher, and I think 2% of the population or 2% of teachers are black males. And so, I mean, it's not just in outdoor sports, but this is just something that we collectively have an influence in. And so maybe we can make a change in our one area.
Coetzee: And now to kind of come back to your personal journey. How do you feel now that you successfully summited Everest, especially with that apprehension that you had at the beginning of all this?
Taylor: It's kind of a relief, to be honest … that the project went smoothly. We got the funding to be able to go. Everyone came home safe and healthy.
And so, now it's kind of a waiting game to see — did this trip make a difference? And ten years from now, are we going to see more and more people of color in the outdoors? And when we go hiking or do our climbing areas or even on Everest or other big mountains.
We talk about how this trip could have an impact with climbers and people of color. We were in schools locally as well as schools across the country for other people who are just interested in this expedition. And one thing we're seeing, and it's not just children of color, but a lot of students are interested in our expedition.
When I grew up, I saw Everest through the lens of the disasters and all the crazy things that happen up there.
And so hopefully, now it's kind of shifted that narrative to this is a place that people can go and they can have a really great time. And maybe they're not just going all the way to Everest, maybe they're going to base camp, or maybe they're just visiting the Khumbu Valley in Nepal. It's very accessible to a large variety of people, not just that like one small group that was going to go off on this crazy adventure. I think a lot, a lot more people could do that.
