The Power of High School Climbing and the ASCL in Colorado
When I moved my family from Missouri to Colorado to begin my teaching career, I was completely astonished to find that Montrose High School had a climbing team. When I told people about it, I got similar reactions to telling someone about competitive bocce ball. It seemed like a weird niche sport in a mountain town. However, I immediately began sending emails to find the coach and get myself involved. I wanted to see how the team began and how it worked. Climbing has given me so much, and I wanted to start giving back to the community.
I expected to find mutant tendons pulling on invisible crimps, and wirey youths sending everything in sight. What I didn’t expect was how much these students needed climbing. It was not just a matter of letting off steam after school or competing against schools across the state. These climbers were almost all new to the sport and addicted to something bigger than pulling on plastic. There was an atmosphere around this team that didn’t exist in my classroom. Climbers were jumping around with excitement, stoked out of their minds, and I wanted to know why.
Source: Climbing Business Journal
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