Diverse Voices at KMF 2023
Kendal Mountain Festival (KMF) is nearly here! From the 16th to the 19th of November this event brings the outdoors community together for 4 days of films, interviews, panels, awards and outdoor sessions.
There is so much happening over the weekend, with lots of events and activities to join. This year we’re so excited to see a huge range of people repping diversity in the uk outdoors, many of them ATE members. To make sure you know when to catch them we’ve put together this short guide to some of the sessions.
As always, this list is not exhaustive: if we’re missing something that highlights diversity in the UK outdoors then let us know in the comments! We’ll be updating this article as more sessions are announced.
Thursday 16th November
17:30 Pride Film Screenings - An evening of Queer-led films
19:30 Cycling Session with Para-cyclists Millie Cass and Elsie Hughes as well as Ultra Distance Scholarship recipient Tayyab Dilmohamud.
Friday 17th November
9:30 BMC Women in Adventure Film Competition Winners.
10:00 Every Body Outdoors are doing a plus size walk with Komoot.
11:00 ATE social - An informal catch up for ATE members for those that can’t make it in the evening. If you’d like to join us get in touch!
11.45 Basecamp Stage - Head Outside Awards celebrating individuals and organisations who are championing mental health support in the outdoors with Mary-Ann Ochota
12:45 Basecamp Stage - BMC Right to Roam panel discussion hosted by Mary-Ann Ochota with Naveed Bakhsh from Boots and Beards
13:15 Literary session: Taran Khan - Shadow City: A Woman Walks Kabul
14:00 Film Collection Run and Hike Red With Frit Tam’s film featuring Fredi Chohan
16:30 Unsupported: Ed Jackson, Darren Edwards and Niall McCann
18:30 ATE social - We’ll be having an informal social at About Time Espresso Bar for the ATE community. If you’d like to join us get in touch!
19:00 The North Face & Ellis Brigham film trilogy. Hosted by Phil Young, co-founder of Opening up the Outdoors (OUTO) and showing ‘Descendance’ a film about Black Austrian freeskier Dennis Ranalter
Saturday 18th November
9:30 Climb Session co-hosted by Team GB’s Molly Thompson-Smith and the founder of Colour Up Bristol, Carlos Casas. With Poppy Walters and Molly Salter with us from the UK Paraclimbing Collective
10:15 Literary session: Marchelle Farrell - Uprooting: From the Caribbean to the Countryside
10:45 Basecamp Stage- Welsh language and reclaiming ancient names hosted by Mary-Ann Ochota
11:15 Basecamp Stage - Frit Tam transgender filmmaker and Fredi Chohan, 54-year-old South Asian hiker
16:00 Running Session hosted by the co-founder of Black Trail Runners and ultra runner Sabrina Pace-Humphreys, with Zukie Tandathu from Black Trail Runners as well as Charlotte Lee and Marie Koehl from Queer Runnings.
16:00 Human Powered Adventure Session presented by Carlos Casas founder of Colour Up Bristol, with Frit Tam and Fredi Chohan.
16:00 WeTwo - Phoebe Smith and Dwayne Fields
17:00 Basecamp Stage (Macs Adventure)- Opening up the Outdoors (OUTO) discussion on belonging
19:00 Plus sized kit try on with Every Body Outdoors
Sunday 19th November
09:15 Literary session: Noreen Masud - A Flat Place
10:00 Literary session: Allie Mason - The Autistic Guide to Adventure
11:30 Basecamp stage (Polartec) - Diversity Behind the Lens hosted by Veronica Melkonian
12:30 Outdoor Swimming Session with Ghanaian-British swimmer Yvette Tetteh and Para swimmer Jonty Warneken
12:30 Endurance Session with Nina Kuypers from Black Trail Runners and founder of Black Women in Menopause. As well as Haroon Mota founder of the Active Inclusion Network, Muslim Hikers and Muslim Runners.
13:00 Literary session: Motherhood and Child-free Adventures with Majka Burhardt and Maria Coffey
Base Camp Talks
Kendal Mountain Festival Base Camp is free to enter with stands and talks there is always lot’s going on and you are sure to see some familiar faces around. There are two base camp stages this year the Polartec bothy stage and the Macs adventure stage as well as the Plas y Brenin tipi. We’ll link to more Base Camp talks as they are announced.
Across The Festival
There are often events that span across the festival. We’ll list them here when they are announced. You can also see the festival planner listing events here.
There are many All The Elements community members attending Kendal Mountain Festival and we hope to see you there! If you are part of the community and would like some friendly faces to meet up we have a KMF 2023 WhatsApp chat with get in touch with us to find out more about joining our WhatsApp groups.
You can view more on the Kendal Mountain Festival website. If you can’t make it to the festival in person, there are online options too!
