For most students who get their start in rock climbing on campus, the transition from the colorful walls of the Wellness and Recreation Climbing Center to outdoor climbing can be intimidating. The Outdoor Climbing Club works to build community and teach students the skills they need to get outside and climb.
The Outdoor Climbing Club is managed by co-presidents Maddie Bain, a fourth-year studying criminology, and Katie Jansen, a fourth-year studying psychology and criminology. Combined, the pair has over a decade of climbing experience.
“I feel like a lot of people get introduced to climbing through the gym,” Bain said. “And that’s totally normal. It’s how I got started, but it’s a lot different going outside.”
To both the non-rock climbers and indoor climbers, the demands of outdoor climbing can be daunting.
“You kind of have to know somebody who knows where to go,” Jansen said. “You have to know how to be safe while you’re outside. And it’s also super expensive to get the gear that you need to go out there. And so I think that not only are we trying to teach the skills to go outside, but we’re also trying to give an opportunity to.”
Being the only student organization with access to the faux rock wall hidden behind two basketball courts on the third floor of Carmichael Gym, the club is especially unique.
Chris Hendricks, a lecturer for the Health and Exercise Studies Department, teaches rock climbing classes and acts as the Outdoor Climbing Club’s advisor. He said the faux rock wall was built in 1987 and used for the past 36 years to teach rock climbing to NC State students.
“There’s a lot that we can do in that space that we can’t do on more of a modular, modern climbing wall,” Hendricks said. “Think in terms of learning to move on rock … but also talking about different rock features and how we manage a rock climbing site. Faux rock does a really good job of sort of imitating that and preparing folks just to start managing climbing sites outside.”
The club also leads an outdoor climbing trip once a semester. Last spring, the group took a day trip to boulder at Moore’s Wall in Hanging Rock State Park. This year, the club hopes to continue the tradition with a two-day trip to climb top rope.
While the Outdoor Climbing Club helps teach students the skills they need to start climbing outdoors, its main goal is connecting students on campus who climb.
“It’s about building community, even more so than the skills because some people will just join, … and they won’t pay dues,” Jansen said. “They won’t be an active member or anything, but they’ll just use that platform to be like, ‘Hey, I’m like going climbing this weekend, if anybody wants to come with me.’ And I think that that’s also a pretty big part of it.”
Between rock climbing classes and the Wellness and Recreation Climbing Center, NC State has a strong climbing culture on campus. For both the beginner and the experienced climber, the Outdoor Climbing Club works to help students build both the skills and the community they need to climb outside.
The Outdoor Climbing Club meets Tuesday evenings twice a month on varying dates at the faux rock climbing wall. To get involved, students can email climboutsidencsu@gmail.com to be added to their mailing list, join their GroupMe, or attend a meeting. Information about meetings is also posted on their Instagram.
