American climber and The North Face athlete, Ashima Shiraishi. Image courtesy of The North Face

If you’ve been on social media or inhabit the outdoor community you’ll probably have heard about the new female-centred Move Mountains campaign from The North Face – a ‘global movement to change the face of exploration by celebrating and sharing the stories of adventurous and courageous female explorers’. It’s something that really resonates with me because it’s what Lessons in Badassery is all about – sharing the stories of women in sport and adventure to inspire others and raise the visibility of all the kickass women out there doing their thing.

The aim of Move Mountains is to enable a new generation of fierce, confident women and the campaign is huge and on-going. It’s not just a ‘seasonal’ thing or token gesture, but goes right to the roots of The North Face as a business – from a commitment to upping female representation in marketing and content campaigns to investment in product design for women (doubling the investment in the design and manufacturing of women’s kit). Thank god, because the shrink-it-and-pink-it approach still adopted by many outdoor brands does nobody any favours.

I’ve long said (to anyone who is close enough for me to bore on the subject), we have no end of courageous, inspiring, badass women within the realm of sport and adventure, it’s just their stories aren’t always told. So I’m totally on board with shining a spotlight on them – I know you’ll all agree that this is waay overdue.

What’s really exciting is how The North Face is partnering with the British outdoor educational charity, The Outward Bound Trust, to get more young girls aged 13-19 outside. In fact, the week-long Serious Adventure Course being run this August, which features rock climbing, camping and canoeing, sounds bloody amazing – and has been subsidised by The North Face to the tune of 50%! There’s even spaces left, so you know a young woman who’d be interested, get her to hotfoot it over here to complete the form.

So here’s to the Move Mountains campaign and here’s to all the badass women who continue to be brave, intrepid and to do their thing – recognised or not.