The Student Recreation Center became a hotspot for camaraderie and collaboration Saturday, at the University of Idaho”s annual Palouse Climbing Festival.
Students from across the Northwest gathered in the SRC Climbing Center to watch peers with chalk hand prints patterned on their pants climb various routes without a harness.
Kira Hunter | Argonaut
Logan Fletcher, a Western Washington University student, competes during the Palouse Climbing Festival at the Student Recreation Center.
On one of the four rock climbing stations, one student found herself wedged horizontally between two walls while pursing a route tagged with green tape. On another, a man in a neon yellow T-shirt pulled himself up, muscles quivering, with three of his fingers on his right hand as his left reached for another rock.
Routes were arranged on the four walls participants could climb from, each marked with a different color tape.
Elise Clausen, who helped organize the event, said the competition”s scoring system was dependent upon the routes participants completed.
“There are different divisions – we have beginning, intermediate, advanced and open categories and they”re all dependent upon how difficult of climbs you can do,” Clausen said. “For each route, I bring in an outside person to set up new routes and holes and they score it by its difficulty so as folks climb routes they get points for the routes they climb.”
Although they stopped officially keeping track a few years ago, Clausen said the festival is in its 15th or 16th year.
“It started as a way to promote friendly competition in a university setting,” she said. “It”s always been hosted at the Rec.”
The competition, which ran from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., was open to anyone who was interested in participating.
Clausen said she not only appreciates the diversity of the festival, but also the collaborative nature of the competition.
“My favorite part is seeing so many people come from so many different places,” Clausen said. “We have students here from the Oregon and Washington coast, so they travel a long way to come out and everybody is pretty friendly.”
In addition to UI”s climbing team, students from Eastern Washington University, Washington State University, Whitman College, University of Washington and University of Oregon came out to compete.
Katie Ringer, a UI freshman and climbing team member, said the competition was based on bouldering, which involves climbing shorter heights without a harness.
While Ringer said she prefers top roping, or climbing greater heights while wearing a harness, she said bouldering is better for climbing competitions.
“The competition was pretty hard,” Ringer said. “The routes were a lot harder than the ones I”m used to doing, but bouldering requires a lot of technique.”
The Palouse Climbing Festival was the first climbing competition for UO freshman Gavin Maxwell”s.
“When I first got here, I noticed a lot of problems were really technical,” Maxwell said. “The routes require weird moves.”
While top roping requires endurance and strength, Maxwell said the bouldering routes needed more mental planning.
“You need to have the strength to climb, but to complete the routes you need to be technically sound and you have to be present,” Maxwell said. “It”s almost as mental as it is physical.”
Jesse James Castleberry, a University of Washington climbing team member, said that despite the independent nature of the sport, there”s still the support and encouragement of a team.
“I like that I can climb independently,” Castleberry said. “It”s entirely dependent on my own performance.”
Although the competition was based on individual performance, Maxwell said he appreciated that everyone, including strangers, were providing each other with support and encouragement.
“Everyone is really friendly with each other, the vibe is really positive,” Maxwell said. “Everyone is collaborating to solve a problem.”
Clausen said at the end of the day, the Palouse Climbing Festival is not just a competition, but also an open and supportive environment in which everyone is encouraged to climb.
“It”s a really fun atmosphere,” Clausen said. “A great place to meet new people and if you”re interested in climbing don”t be afraid to come because everyone is really friendly, nobody judging you.”
Corrin Bond can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @CorrBond