Here is the latest in a series of posts about Expedition Denali, the all African American team preparing to climb Denali with NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) in June 2013. This one is from team member Rosemary Saal:

“Once we think it gets real, it gets ‘realer’.”

This phrase crossed my mind and lips at least 10 times a day while on the NOLS Waddington Range Mountaineering course this past summer in British Columbia.

I’m sure my fellow Expedition Denali team members who trained alongside me will agree; when it comes to learning mountaineering in the field, NOLS provides no shortage of opportunity. And while these opportunities come with many challenges (like muscle soreness), the training we received—on how to effectively self arrest, place protection and respond to real (and not just contrived) situations—has brought our team closer to being able to safely embrace Denali come June.

Although the physical challenges have been great, they are not the only ones. The greater challenge is finding our voices; speaking up about the lack of diversity in the outdoors and encouraging many discouraged people—not only people of color—to embrace nature.

Personally, the struggle of finding my voice is something that I have constantly been working on. It is sometimes so difficult to find the right words that I often choose to just stay silent.

This was something that I was forced to deal with head on while in the Waddingtons. When it came to route finding and reading maps to plan a move, I mostly receded to the back of the group and let the rest of the team make the decisions. Seeing as how a huge part of the NOLS curriculum is improving leadership skills, this silence became a problem. Thankfully, I had an amazingly understanding instructor team and a group of supportive fellow students to help.