As children grow up and develop, they begin testing the limits of their bodies as they improve their motor skills, including by trying to ascend to the heights of the world around them. This interest in climbing has a tendency to stick around as people get older, going from testing the limits of one’s body by climbing stairs, then tress, then man-made and natural rock walls in gyms and outside.
Rock climbing and bouldering are unique sports that tend to attract thrill-seekers who continue to hold on to that particular affinity in ascending heights throughout life. The climbing community is a welcoming community that tends to take pride in its fellow community members.
Western’s Campus Recreation and Wellness hosted its annual bouldering competition in February, which got me interested in bouldering, largely due to the nature of the community.
See the video story about the competition.
The competition is usually open to those affiliated with USA Climbing but was only open to WCU students this year due to the pandemic. For the women’s category, the first place finisher was Reagan Miller, in second place was Roxy Mulrooney and in third place was Rachel Hooper.
Picture of Reagan Miller from The WCJ’s interview. 
Photo of Roxy Mulrooney provided by Mulrooney. 
Photo of Rachel Hooper provided by Hooper.
For the men’s category, in first place was Miles Kasten, in second place was Mason Shaw and in third place was Ethan Kozlowski.
The climbers the WCJ talked to said climbing is a very individual sport, but the community is also encouraging of its members. Climbing is welcoming, and many climbers take pride in the success of others, oftentimes working together to help solve the problems on the wall.
The climbing community is accepting in such a way that encourages others, including myself, to get into climbing.
It is a great way to focus on personal health and fitness while also tapping into your own physical and mental limits.
“Every boulder is sort of a puzzle that you have to figure out with your body and your mind,” said Ethan Kozlowski, a freshman who started the sport in June 2021 and placed third in the men’s division of the competition.
In my opinion, lifting weights in the gym can feel intimidating when you’re surrounded by people lifting more than you. While climbing heights and dropping from those heights can feel intimidating, I see climbing as a more freeing exercise that helps one get in tune with their body.
Climbing makes you “very connected with your body,” said Miles Kasten, a WCU fourth-year student who placed first in the men’s category.
Kasten is studying film and television production at WCU. He has been climbing for about four years and is more drawn to the individuality, spiritualness and mindfulness of climbing than team sports.
“It’s very meditative to me,” said Kasten. As he explained, the main focus is on solving the problem and just scaling the wall. If you stumble or mess up, you can only place that blame on yourself, whereas group sports may have others blaming you as well, he explained.
Climbing may be competitive, but it also offers a sense of camaraderie with fellow climbers. Kasten wanted to compete this year to test his limits against some of the better climbers. Even though some of his fellow climbers ended up not competing, it was still beneficial to Kasten to find and test his limits.
“The one thing about comps that I love is that we’re not competing against each other, we’re just trying to do the route. We’re all cheering each other on. It’s awesome,” said Kasten. It’s a very conversational activity, especially in larger competitions where you have more people coming in, he explained.
On the success of the competition, Kasten stated his pride in all who competed, especially Mason Shaw for the improvement he’s made over time. “Just because I won first doesn’t mean that I’m not super proud of everyone else… What we all did was hard,” Kasten concluded the interview with.
Roxy Mulrooney, a natural resource management major, placed second in the women’s category. Mulrooney has been climbing and competing since they were roughly eight years old. Some of the climbing styles Mulrooney likes involve oftentimes more dangerous risks and larger falls, like lead climbing. It’s risky, but it’s thrilling.
Mulrooney had an instructor notice a particular skill when they first started climbing. Seeing that natural skill develop was really encouraging. Mulrooney is particularly drawn to the challenge of climbing and how it incorporates most parts of physical health.
Mulrooney wasn’t sure what to expect from the competition but was nervous about living up to personal expectations.
“Sometimes I get a little nervous and just don’t climb as well… I kept my personal standards up for myself and that really helped,” they said.
Mulrooney was glad they competed and loves the supportive nature of the sport.
“Everyone was competitive but not, like, toxic… Everyone was super nice about it,” said Mulrooney, adding that climbing is great, “especially once you get your friend group at the wall. You have this little, like, close group of friends that are at the wall, and you… kind of help each other, project stuff together, all kinds of things like that.”
Mulrooney was happy with her placement and was also really proud of Reagan Miller and Rachel Hooper.
When asked what was rewarding about the competition, Mulrooney said, “I think the people there. Making those connections… It just showed me how nice and accepting everyone is… It was very comforting…”
Mulrooney also wanted to spotlight the people who helped set the problems for the competition, saying that the setting was interesting and people enjoy the current problems on the wall. The wall will likely start being reset more frequently to keep it fresh for climbers, so go try your hand at the current problems while they’re still there.
Here’s a shout-out to those who helped reset the wall. The goals of some setters, like Hunter Gensic and William Adams, who helped reset the wall, were to challenge climbers and make interesting routes, which the setters succeeded in. Gensic said in an email that problems should be challenging but equitable in the sense that any climber should be able to follow the intended route to the top, regardless of their physical abilities.
Reagan Miller, a freshman studying interior design, placed first in the women’s category. She’s been climbing for about eight years and is drawn to the uniqueness of the sport. Fewer people climb than lift weights or do a variety of other exercises, but climbing also utilizes unique skills that play into other strength training.
“It’s always been really fun to me, it’s like a really playful sport,” Miller said. Miller also highlighted the supportive culture of climbing. “I just really like the community that we have here. We all have a lot of fun together and… build each other up climbing. I’m really happy to be a part of it.”
This competition was Ethan Kozlowski’s first competition and he was surprised by how well he did. He wants to encourage anybody to try it.
“Climbing is a lot of fun. I’d encourage anybody… to give [it] a shot. No matter how difficult it looks, or how little skill you have, anybody can do it,” Kozlowski said.
So what are you waiting for? Go check out a wall near you, challenge yourself, develop new skills, and make some friends at the wall. WCU’s wall is open 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday.
WCU Catamount Climbing Club is another way for students to get involved in climbing. They meet Monday and Thursday from 8 – 10 p.m. You can sign up on IMLeagues.com.
