Cal Poly Climbing Team Reaches New Heights

While 8pm on a Wednesday night for many students may entail last minute studying or a movie in bed, for the Cal Poly Climbing Team, the night of training hard, chalked holds and calloused hands has only just begun.

These weekly practices held at the indoor rock climbing gym, The Pad SLO, bring together Cal Poly’s climbing enthusiasts of every grade level, who all share love for the sport, a drive to improve their climbing abilities and interest in competing. And for coaches and older team members, seeing this school year’s large uptick in team participation following the recent Covid-19 restrictions, closed gyms and canceled climbing competitions, has been one of great excitement.

Head coach and fourth-year Software Development major, Cole Brazell, who joined the climbing club his freshman year, feels as though everything, including climbing, has finally returned to a sense of normalcy. “My first year with the climbing club were some of my favorite memories that I’m really trying to help recreate for all the newcomers this year,” Brazell said.

So far, the Cal Poly Climbing Club, with almost 180 members, has hosted:

• A beach bonfire
• A pizza, kombucha movie night
• Weekly club yoga sessions
• A mini-competition at The Pad after hours

And thanks to the club’s sponsors, including College Outside, The Mountain Air and Whalebird Kombucha, members get to enjoy these community-building events and get great deals on climbing equipment and clothing.

The Growth of Rock Climbing in Schools

While just over half of the CSU schools, including Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, have rock climbing teams, almost every campus now has either a climbing wall or climbing-related classes available to students.

With a combination of Alex Honnold’s 2018 Academy Award winning documentary, “Free Solo”, the sport’s first debut in the 2020 Summer Olympics, and the free time during Covid that got people psyched about rock climbing, the growing community is only getting bigger.

With climbing on the rise, more schools are also participating in the competitive collegiate climbing series. As USA Climbing told the Wall Street Journal, “More than 260 colleges now have competitive climbing teams, up from about 175 two years ago.”

Cal Poly Team’s First Comp of the 2022-2023 Season

Packing into cars at 5:30 a.m. and driving to the Stanford Climbing Wall, while braving the stormy weather and hazardous conditions that swept through San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly’s dedicated climbers competed as a group in the USA Climbing Collegiate bouldering competition on Jan. 14.

Climbing amongst other schools in the West Coast Division, including University of Nevada, University of Washington and Sacramento State, the team got their first taste of the competition this season. Using the strength and techniques cultivated through months of training at practice, team members placed very well, and both Joan Schroeder and Ryan Herrmann made it through to the competition’s finals.

With more qualification competitions in the upcoming months, and Divisionals at Mesa Rim North City in San Diego at the beginning of April, coach Cole Brazell plans to up the team practices to two days a week and continue working with climbers to train their strength and power endurance.

However it’s never too late to join, and the Cal Poly Climbing Club is always looking to add to their welcoming and inclusive community. Whether you are a serious climber looking to get stronger and compete, or to simply chill at The Pad with climbing friends and have a good time, Cal Poly’s Climbing Club has something for everyone.

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