I’d rather be climbing – UVic

At some point in my life I started taking the stairs instead of climbing the banister and it was a sad transition. I love unleashing my socially-repressed childhood desire to climb.  There is something fantastic about the playful intensity of being on a climbing wall.

I have been back in Victoria for a month and I am surely addicted to climbing. It reminds me of my days in high school athletics without the tenacity and competitiveness. Everyone is so nice and helpful and you are only competing with yourself – strategy, strength and stretching to get up the wall.

For me, it is the perfect student stress relief. I can hang out with awesome new friends, push myself ’til my body is exhausted and forget about school. It can be really hard to take time away from the woes and worries of student life, but rock climbing is my meditation. I travel back in time to my childhood when I wanted to climb everything. And now, at 21, I want to climb everything – like the concrete elevator shaft in ECS (Engineering Computer Science building @UVic).

This semester, the UVic climbing group, which has been around for a few years, was revitalized thanks to Braeden Price. He formed the official club and created that awesome poster. If you are interested in coming out to Stelley’s or CragX with us, join the Facebook group “UVic Climbing.”

I can’t wait to see the rock climbing wall on campus next semester in CARSA (Centre for Athletics, Recreation and Special Abilities). I won’t make any judgements before the 16 meter tall climbing wall is finished; I just hope it has as many routes as climbing gyms at other universities – stay tuned.