Climbing To Success

Reaching for a ledge just inches from her hand when her arm is stretched to its limit. Clinging to a slim handhold on a wall, high enough in the air that the fall would surely kill her. Knowing it was the only way, she takes the leap of faith to reach the top but she slips and begins to fall. Before any real damage is done she is caught by the rope and harness she put on in case of an emergency like this one.

Blood pumping situations like this are a more than a daily occurrence for the members of Highland’s brand new Indoor Climbing Club. No more than a few months ago, Highland had its annual Club Rush assembly and the preceding lunchtime events. During this time, Indoor Climbing Club swiftly rose in popularity simply due to the fact the the idea was so new and exciting in the mind of the average student.

Although the club can only meet once a month due to the cost of each activity, many of the club members meet unofficially and climb with each other on an almost daily basis. Many are not only members of the Indoor Climbing Club but are also members of one of the rocking climbing gyms in the Salt Lake area. Most of these individuals have passes to Momentum, a climbing gym chain that has a few locations around Utah, including one on 3300 South in Millcreek. A few others in the club have memberships at The Front, the rival gym in Salt Lake. In either case, after absorbing the considerable cost of a climbing gym membership, members have incentive to attend as often as possible, so many of the Highland Indoor Climbing Club members are in the habit of meeting to climb several times a week.

“I have been climbing for the past three years. I started with Mimi and a summer camp and we just kept going from there,” club president Brynley Anderson said.

Anderson, and her vice president Mimi Reeder, are talented climbers, good organizers, and co-founders of the club. The irony of these two leading a club like this is that they are each a member of one of the rival climbing gyms. Anderson is a regular on the walls of Momentum while Reeder spends her days suspended meters above the grounds of The Front. Despite their differences in gym choice, they still manage to run a successful club that encourages people of all skill levels to attend.

“I didn’t expect there to be so many people we didn’t know join,” Reeder said.

Since the club has members with memberships to different gyms, the monthly meetings are split between different gyms around the Salt Lake Valley. Most of the time they end up at either The Front or Momentum.

To say this club had been planned well in advance of its founding would not exactly be accurate. It is true that the president and vice president were more prepared than they ever could have hoped for when starting this club, but the idea for the club just popped into the Brynley Anderson’s head one day after climbing with her friends. From them the club rapidly grew to be one of the most popular new clubs at Highland.