Matt Harris
 Staff Writer

If you’re like me, you may have visited the UNCG rec center plenty of times without paying much attention to the looming rock wall tucked into the corner behind the treadmills and ellipticals. I’ve always regarded the wall with intrigue, while also assuming I had nowhere near the strength or coordination to hoist my body to the top of it.

On Saturday Feb. 27, after years of looking askance at it from the other side of the room and mumbling underneath my breath about how I could never do that, I finally got close enough to the wall to see what it’s like — without actually it climbing myself, of course).

Every year since 1998, UNCG students have gathered at the foot of the wall to participate in the Spartan Summit Climbing Competition. This year’s 18th annual competition was hosted by the Spartan Rock Climbing Club, a relatively new addition to UNCG club sports.

The competition lasted throughout the afternoon and was divided into three divisions: beginner, intermediate and advanced. Depending on their skill level and experience, climbers would attempt to push themselves to the tops of specific routes on the wall.

The routes were marked with colored tape indicating their difficulty level. The climbers all wore harnesses and were supported by thick purple ropes that looped around a wide metal pole at the ceiling of the gym. Many of the players were dressed in bright yellow competition T-shirts that were given out by the club to its members.

The event began at 10:30 a.m., with the beginning climbers warming up and preparing themselves for the climb.

Even the beginner’s routes looked pretty challenging. The fun that all the climbers seemed to be having — the excitement in the their faces as they hoisted themselves to a new hold — and the good-natured spirit of competition made the sport seem much more accessible than I had originally thought.

The point system was relatively straightforward: each hold that a player reaches without slipping earned them one point. Slipping, veering off the route or using their legs improperly all resulted in penalties. If a player successfully completed an entire route in one try without falling or slipping, they earned an additional two points. Each climber was given three chances to climb a particular route.

After the first climb, I talked to a beginning climber who told me that getting involved in rock climbing was helping him stay active and deal with a slight fear of heights.

“I definitely thought it would be a challenge,” the beginning climber said, although he seemed happy to talk about his experience.

He explained that he started climbing earlier this semester and that, although this was his first time competing, he was happy with his results. This was the general impression I got from the climbers: excitement about what they were doing and eager to get better at it.

I overheard a rec center employee discussing his reservations about the wall with one of the advanced climbers, saying that he’d considered climbing before, but always had a creeping suspicion that the rope wouldn’t be sturdy enough. The climber assured her that the ropes were, in fact, very sturdy, and even offered assistance if she decided to give it a shot.

The intermediate climbers pushed themselves through more complicated routes, tapping their fingers to prevent cuts and occasionally stopping mid-route to apply chalk to their hands for better grip. A couple of the routes were particularly difficult for the climbers, including one that forced its climber to almost hang upside down before reaching the next hold.

One thing that struck me about watching the climbers, was the confidence most of them seemed to have as they vaulted their way up the face of the rock wall. Most of them seemed perfectly calm as they reached for the next hold, and only laughed when they slipped forty feet above the ground, and slowly drifted back to the bottom.

If it weren’t for the judges keeping track of points, you’d almost forget that this was even a competition — everyone just seemed happy to be climbing and watching everyone else climb.

Jason Needham, president of the Rock Climbing Club, lay on the ground before beginning his climb, and did a half-dance half-stretch to the beat of the pulsing electronic music coming from the speakers, drawing laughs from the other climbers.

People laughed, took pictures and consumed huge numbers of protein bars. At the end of the event, points were tallied and winners were congratulated, but the spirit of fun and self-improvement still prevailed.