GALLERY: Palouse Climbing Festival

Palouse Climbing Festival attendees watch as a climber works on a route | John Keegan | Argonaut

On Saturday, the UI Climbing Center was packed with students and community members from across the Northwest. The annual Palouse Climbing Festival has climbers show up for a friendly competition to see who can best the hardest routes in their category, across two heats and a finals round.

The Climbing Center had been closed for days before the competition to accommodate new route setting, and to avoid contestants getting an unfair advantage. With contestants from UI, EWU, CWU, Whitman College and more throughout the day, the new routes got a lot of use.

The UI Climbing Center welcomes climbers of all skill levels, and offers climbing basics courses on a regular basis. If you are at all interested in climbing or bouldering, the Climbing Center in the Students Recreation Center is a great place to start.

A UI competitor fist bumps a staff member after completing a route | John Keegan | Argonaut
A competitor makes a big reach to crimp on a competitive attempt | John Keegan | Argonaut
A Palouse Climbing Festival competitor makes his way around an overhang | John Keegan | Argonaut
An EWU competitor works on a traverse route while onlookers watch | John Keegan | Argonaut
Competitors in the second heat of the day hang around in the gym | John Keegan | Argonaut

John Keegan can be reached at [email protected]

About the Author

John Keegan Sophomore at the University of Idaho. I am the Multimedia Editor for the 2023-2024 school year.

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