A Climbing Wall for Everyone

The university’s adaptive climbing program – the first of its kind in the Northwest – allows climbers with disabilities to reach new heights By Brooklyn Chillemi

Rock climbing stands out from other forms of exercise. Each route is a puzzle that takes technique, coordination, power and precision – not to mention the mental challenge of looking down when you’re 40 feet in the air.

Adaptive climbers at the university’s Hadlock Student Center rock wall see that challenge and raise it. Some do routes blind, while amputees may use their residual limb to climb.

“The goal has always been that the climbing wall should be for everyone,” says Nate Freeman, assistant director of university recreation. “This is something that we’ve identified as a need for campus, but also for the greater Portland area, and something that we want to be one of the forerunners on.”

After hosting several informal adaptive climbing nights, last fall the university rock wall team took its efforts to new heights, purchasing specific gear and hosting a clinic where staff learned new techniques from Paradox Sports, the premier organization for adaptive climbing in the U.S.

George Fox is the first university to complete adaptive climbing training in the Pacific Northwest, and one of only a handful on the West Coast.

“It really changed not just our physical setups, but the mentality behind how we can serve people better,” Freeman says.

Isabelle James, who has had a prosthetic leg since childhood, remembers that first time she tried to climb the Hadlock Student Center rock wall her freshman year.

“I initially tried to climb with my prosthetic on – that’s how I used to do it when I was a kid,” she recalls. “But prosthetics change and your body changes over time, and I thought to myself, ‘This isn’t working.’”

For James, the feeling was nothing new. “There are so many things in the world that are made for only able-bodied people,” she says. “It’s hard to find people who share the same life experiences. Sometimes it makes you feel so different and separated from others.”

But when James attended a recent adaptive climbing night this past spring, she instantly felt a sense of belonging in a relatable community.

“It was really cool,” she recalls. “There was another amputee there and she told me, ‘Oh yeah, this same thing happens to my stump all the time when I climb, too.’ I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, me too!’ And it was just one of those moments where I felt that, ‘Wow, I’m not alone.’”

Since that first attempt freshman year, James, now a senior nursing major, has learned to scale the rock wall with ease. When it’s time to climb, she leaves her prosthetic behind – it’s just her and the wall. One more hold to reach, one more route to conquer.

“It’s been such a good outlet for me,” she says. “Everyone can do it, and everyone has their own individual way. It doesn’t matter how high you climb or how far you go. What matters is having fun.”