It’s a human facing nature. It’s one person’s focus on the rock, on the holds, on doing everything in one’s power to reach higher and not plummet downward.
Climbing, particularly sport climbing where no one is holding a rope, is a solo activity.
Right?
Well, step into the Rock Lounge on a Tuesday afternoon. A couple dozen kids are in various stages of rock scrambling, cheering, shouting advice and just basically making a healthy amount of energetic noise.
Then try to say that climbing is not a team sport.
“Every kid’s a little bit different,” explains Marcus Garcia, coach of Team Durango. “But the team aspect is we all support each other and help each other out.”
Team Durango, comprised of youths 8 to 17, formed more than two years ago. It has quickly grown from just a few participants to 20. The squad practices a couple times a week and travels around the region for events under the umbrella of USA Climbing, the sport’s national governing body.
There’s also a state high school league consisting of two conferences; Durango, of course, is in the Western Conference. But although Garcia is on the board of directors for the Western Conference, Team Durango puts greater focus on the more prestigious USA Climbing meets.
Durango will host the 2014 season-opening meet for USA Climbing’s Colorado region, which consists of all of Colorado and the western parts of Nebraska and Kansas. That meet is March 15 at the Rock Lounge, at 1111 Camino del Rio.
If a normal afternoon practice is any indication, it’ll be loud, and youthful enthusiasm will permeate the building for the mid-March meet.
At about 4 p.m. Tuesday, Garcia calls the scattered climbers to attention: “Climbing team – yoga room. Let’s go get warmed up.”
Garcia and 11 youths form a circle on the wooden floor and begin practice just as many other sports teams would: jogging in place, jumping jacks, stretches and quick drops to the floor.
Then they’re ready for practice. “You’ve got an hour and a half,” Garcia tells them. “Do as many routes as you can.”
The youths spread out upstairs and downstairs and begin to study the multicolored, faux rock pieces that have been bolted to the walls and windows and nooks and crannies of the gym. They take turns, and when they’re not climbing, they’re watching teammates, spotting and helping them find the next hold.
Garcia, approached by Rock Lounge owner Keeton Disser 2½ years ago to coach the team, brings some cachet. The 39-year-old is a pro climber. He’s gained some renown for scaling big walls, rock and ice. Also, he’s in the final stages of becoming the Rock Lounge’s owner.
So when he tells the kids something, they’re wise to listen. And what he emphasizes is this: Be patient, relax and then execute.
“I’m constantly telling them that so they get it in their head,” Garcia said.
It can get intense, but Garcia emphasizes the fun aspect.
“If they get discouraged, I come up to them and say, ‘Hey, you did good. Did you have fun?’” he said.
Team members are taking that to heart. Thirteen-year-old Nianoa Umbhau was climbing at the Durango Community Recreation Center rock wall when he saw a brochure for Team Durango. He’s been with the club for about a year now – although he’s been limited lately after breaking his toe.
“I enjoy it a lot,” he said, “probably one of the funnest things I do.”
Usually there are more girls than boys on the team, Garcia said, but that is not the case this year.
Georgia Witchel, 12, had climbed at a gym in San Francisco before she moved here with her parents, John Witchel and Jessica Wheeler. The Mountain Middle School student didn’t know anybody when she arrived, so joining the team was a way to connect.
About eight kids are on the traveling team. “I like the traveling,” Georgia said. “It shakes up your life.”
Skylar Smith joined the team several years ago, and at that point it was him “and two other guys.
“I kind of like the solo sports,” the 14-year-old Animas High student said. “But I do like the encouragement of other climbers.”
Skylar, son of Shannon and Dan Smith, has qualified for and competed at national meets. He’s been climbing since age 3, when dad got him into it. Now he’s learning all he can from Garcia, including endurance – a mandatory skill at the national level when walls are 70 to 80 feet high. Rock Lounge walls are less than half that height, so one workout he does is three consecutive routes from bottom to top and back without touching the floor.
Each hold a climber can reach in competition is vital. Judges keep track of what hand and foot holds a climber touches and awards them points accordingly. Climbers can choose from different routes, with a higher degree of difficulty offering more possible points.
So, you can keep thinking of climbing as a solo sport if you choose. But with encouraging fellow climbers and a supportive atmosphere, it’s plain to grasp how the team aspect helps everyone reach new heights.
Plus, it’s fun.
johnp@durangoherald.com. John Peel writes a weekly human-interest column.
