Phil Henderson, a Black mountaineer from Colorado, has announced his plans to lead the first all-black expedition group to the top of Mount Everest. According to the Associated Press, Henderson is looking to make a statement as the largely white industry looks to add more diversity in all aspects of the outdoorsy sport.
“We just need more propulsion. We need more power,” he told the outlet. “This is our boost. We are priming that engine.”
Henderson is a trained mountaineer that uses his experience to teach guides and expedition organizers how to safely reach the mountaintops. CBS Denver reports he's been on numerous expeditions, doing climbs in Nepal and South America. He also previously led an All-African team on a climb of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
The expedition is scheduled to take place next year — almost 60 years after the first American team climbed the mountain. Coincidentally, it was also the year Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his now-famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
“It’s kind of emotional for me as well,” he told AP, noting that the impending event has inspired him to become more vocal. “I’m realizing and living these things I’ve always said were so important and how it’s so vital for all of us to be connected to the natural environment.”
As it currently stands, there have been no Black American men to reach the summit of Mount Everest. The outlet reports the rest of Henderson's Full Circle expedition team are hopeful that their accomplishment might inspire others to take up a new hobby and explore the great outdoors.
“From gardening to bird watching to climbing Everest, the sky is really the limit when it comes to people just getting outside and really understanding the benefits of spending time in nature,” Henderson added.
“That’s the hope, that we give visibility and normalize this experience for Black folks,” mountaineer Eddie Taylor, who will be joining Henderson on the climb, said.
Taylor himself said he grew up being a fan of nature, as he and his family went on many camping and skiing trips, despite such activity not being “traditional” among families of color. Thus, this fueled his decision to join the group, and he hopes that the visibility and representation will serve as an inspiration for others to reach these heights.
“We definitely hope this will have a lasting impact on our community,” Taylor says. “Maybe this expedition can help change that.”
Misha Charles is an avid mountaineer who works with Outdoor Afro and the American Alpine Club. She also hopes the expedition will inspire more people of color to try the thrilling practice, as she explains she’s experienced micro-aggressions from the mountaineering community in past trips.
Charles said that although she's been climbing in Colorado for some time, she often fields questions from people assuming that it is her first trip. She also says she's been asked by others if she and her friends were on a basketball team or if she knew an African language.
“By and large, people are welcoming and happy to see us there but, at the same time, folks are always sort of astonished to see us out there,” Charles shared with the outlet. “I see this expedition as normalizing our place in the outdoors.”
Charles went on to share how much trust and support she felt for Henderson, adding that she looks at him as a "mountain mentor" of sorts. Henderson helped her organize her trip to Mount Kilimanjaro.
“He has accepted the responsibility of being a mentor, a guide and a role model for a whole generation of people of color and certainly Black people in the outdoors,” Charles says. “He is very conscious of the fact that he is carrying all of us to the top of Everest, and that means an awful lot to this community and to quite a few of us personally and individually.”
