The 4 P's: Supporting Mountaineers Who Menstruate, Pee and Poop in the Backcountry - Online Classroom

6:00-7:30pm PST via Zoom Meeting
Meeting link will be sent to registered attendees the day of the session.

Effectively and confidently handling your own hygiene in the backcountry directly translates into the ability to have a safer and more connected experience to the natural world. In addition, knowing how to effectively and tactfully approach this discussion with other hike/trip participants and having the ability to point them in the direction of appropriate resources is an undervalued and often overlooked skill. As mountaineers, we spend extensive amounts of time training with our tools and skills: ice axes, crampons, ropes, carabiners, and knots. In this extensive preparation process, we often overlook the seemingly ‘simple’ tasks of properly handling hygiene in the backcountry. And yet, as we step away from the trailhead – most hikers and climbers will agree that hygiene is an essential and critical part of any backcountry adventure – but it is also a part of the climb that is often never discussed.

As we embark upon our backcountry explorations — there are many things that connect us – our mutual desire to explore, our love of the wilderness… and also, the fact that we all have similar basic hygiene needs. Even with this shared bodily connection, many people still feel uneasy about how to approach this topic – and often, that silence leaves hikers or climbers feeling uncomfortable on trips and/or deciding not to pursue an outdoor adventure due to a lack of resources or education about how to handle hygiene in the backcountry.

This class will provide an in-depth overview of current ‘best practices’ for backcountry hygiene (peeing, pooping, periods and personal hygiene) – and will also leave participants feeling empowered to include hygiene discussions in their own trip planning efforts with other humans.

Seminar Notes

This presentation will encourage attendees to speak up throughout the presentation and be interactive with prompting discussion questions interspersed within story/lecture segments. 

PRESENTER

Anastasia Allison is a former park ranger and backpacking instructor and the founder of Kula Cloth, an outdoor gear company that makes a reusable pee cloth for anybody who squats when they pee. Anastasia has been hiking, backpacking and alpine climbing in the Pacific Northwest for over 20 years, and is on a mission to help others connect more with themselves and nature. Anastasia is also the violinist for a small duo called the Musical Mountaineers. With her musical partner Rose, they climb mountains with a violin and a piano to perform unannounced concerts for nobody. The duo has performed three times at Benaroya Hall to raise money for the Washington’s National Parks Fund and the Washington Trails Association. She lives in Granite Falls, Washington with her husband Aaron and their three cats. When she isn’t working for Kula, she enjoys spending time outside, dancing (pretty much anywhere) and riding her motorcycle.