Chalking it up to the newbies 

It happens every year—my beloved local climbing gym is inundated with these young, agile college kids who crowd the routes I want to climb. With their cherubic smiles, they ask, “Hey, do you mind if I get on this?” Then, of course, they scurry up a route that I’ve been working on for a month all in one go. I get that same grin as they descend, and they blabber on about how they are now done with their warm-up. Argh!  

Where did all these talented yahoos come from, anyway? In my day, climbing was a fringe sport for outcasts and adrenaline junkies who couldn’t fit into the mainstream. But these kids? No, they’re actually enrolled in a highly ranked college, with majors like journalism and computer science. They have big, diverse friend groups, other interests, and goals beyond climbing. I’m pretty sure they even shower every day.  

So how are they so good? I mean, it might be because of this club I heard they started in 2014 … the UMass Climbing Team. Team? Really?  

And boy, do they like to motivate each other. Gone are the days of the quiet gym where you had space to think—punctuated only by a try-hard grunt. Now there are just constant cheers of “You got this!” and “Come on! Let’s go. Almost there!” I find it so annoying. They’ve even cheered me on a few times (which, I’ll admit, felt good). And . . . I guess on the nights they don’t practice, the gym seems definitively less lively.  

I suppose they might just be practicing at that new on-campus bouldering facility, Ascend. I did overhear one of the team captains talking about it after they offered to belay me. 

So how are they so good? I mean, it might be because of this club I heard they started in 2014 … the UMass Climbing Team. Team? Really?  

And boy, do they like to motivate each other. Gone are the days of the quiet gym where you had space to think—punctuated only by a try-hard grunt. Now there are just constant cheers of “You got this!” and “Come on! Let’s go. Almost there!” I find it so annoying. They’ve even cheered me on a few times (which, I’ll admit, felt good). And . . . I guess on the nights they don’t practice, the gym seems definitively less lively.  

I suppose they might just be practicing at that new on-campus bouldering facility, Ascend. I did overhear one of the team captains talking about it after they offered to belay me.

“I think Ascend is a great gateway into the climbing world and community,” says Aaron Shikh ’24, ’25MA, the program assistant at Ascend and team practice coordinator. “I have seen so many regulars at Ascend who just started climbing when it opened and are now crushing really hard climbs.”

I suppose opening up the climbing wall on campus could be a good thing—it gives people a chance to try a new sport in a safe, supportive environment. And, I guess instead of dirtbag climbers such as myself, who give up everything to live in tents at big crags, I have to accept that there are now college clubs and teams who like to watch movies about famous climbers, climb somewhere nearby just for fun, or go to climbing competitions on the weekends. It is kind of cool that they made a group where people can participate in whatever way they want.

“This year, we’ve had our highest undergraduate return rate ever,” says Amalia Wompa ¢25, climbing team president and a route setter at Ascend. “And that’s just the people who have come to practice every single week and attended pretty much every event. There are around 150 people on our weekly email list and a lot of people who haven’t officially joined the team online but still hang out with us at the gym. It makes me so proud to know that everyone who climbs on campus feels connected because of the jumping pad that is the UMass Climbing Team.” And I guess this old pebble pincher is pretty proud, too. 

Raw Materials 

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