For much of the student population, the climbing wall is the strange colorful structure occupying the space between the squash courts and the weight room. But for those students who have integrated top rope climbing into their lives at Hopkins, the wall is a comfortable, homey atmosphere filled with people who share the same interests and speak the same language: slopers, edging, stemming, arête, crimp, crux, dyno.
Many of the regular users of the climbing wall began their passion for climbing in their freshman year of college at Johns Hopkins. Junior wall staff member Peter Bai recalls climbing his first 5.4 here his freshman year.
"I remember being absolutely thrilled — and freaking out about how high up I was. I'm glad that I'm in a position now to give others the same joy!" said Bai. As Head Setter for the wall, Peter fulfilled the crucial responsibility of directing the competition by announcing the rules and overseeing the logistics with an unwavering smile.
At 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, November 19th, the gate to the Hopkins climbing wall opened to a wave of eager competitors. Both University of Maryland College Park and Towson University had an impressive showing among the majority of Hopkins students. Junior Will Shepherdson, a first-time competitor in the Intermediate Men's division affirmed that "the environment was great and it was a lot of fun to meet climbers for other local schools like UMD and Towson." He finished by saying "I definitely want to compete again next year."
Camaraderie, entertainment, self-improvement and fitness were not the only benefits of participating in this year's competition. Prizes from generous sponsors included gear from REI, magazine subscriptions to Rock & Ice Magazine, passes to Earth Treks, books from Mountaineer Publishing and gift cards to Mountain Khakis.
Hopkins graduate student Brittany Sumnicht commented that "the atmosphere was great- even though it was a competition, it wasn't cutthroat; everyone was really nice and laid back."
"I had friendly conversations with both friends and competitors I hadn't met before."
Sumnicht advanced in the women's division in front of Krista Matthews, another JHU graduate student, and Anna Sprout, representing University of Maryland. In the men's advanced division, UMD student Nathan Wright took home first place followed by Towson student Scott Hosier and JHU student Peter Denny. As far as the difficulty of the climbs was concerned, Brittany echoed the consensus: "Most of the harder climbs [5.11s] were difficult in a good way — tough but doable."
The week leading up to the competition is always a test of endurance and resolve for the climbing wall managers and affiliates. Junior head setters Peter Bai and Morgan Coffin spent the entire week leading up the competition taking down climbing routes, cleaning and setting the new routes.
"Seeing as this was the first comp where Peter and I acted as co-head setters, we were sort of nervous going into it; it's a big responsibility. But, with a little help from our friends at Towson, we were able to set up what was one of the best comps Hopkins has hosted thus far." said Coffin.
For those who climb regularly at the wall, it's a week-long wait to return to normal open-wall hours. However, it is well worth the wait to have a completely new array of climbs to conquer. Peter reflected, "The last two years we had an incredible head setter. When he graduated, I was a bit nervous about taking on the responsibility of setting with Morgan. With the success of this comp, I finally feel that we have what it takes to continue the trend of quality climbs at the wall."
