Wellness Center rock wall opens to all levels of climbers

The rock wall at the Wellness and Recreation Center is now open for climbing.

“Two hundred and twenty people have signed in to climb the rock wall. On an average day the number of students who climb ranges from the 30s to the 50s,” Operations Supervisor for the WRC Matt Butterick said. “It varies by day. If people walk in to the Wellness Center and see someone climbing they’ll want to climb too.”

The wall, which opened Jan. 8, is accessible to students who have registered at the WRC front desk. From there, all rock wall users must sign a release form in order to climb the wall.

There are two different types of walls available; one is open to anyone, but the other requires a training course for more experienced climbers.

The WRC also hosts classes that students can take to learn how to climb the rock wall.

“We have a wall orientation class where if you take it you can learn the basics of the wall. We also have belay classes,” Butterick said. “We’ll have classes pretty soon that allow you to start doing lead routes, where you start off not hooked to the wall and once you reach a certain point you hook yourself in. It’s more for an experienced climber but anybody is free to take the class.”

The wall is nearly 30 feet high and offers multiple levels of difficulty for students. For students at a beginner’s level, the WRC offers a mechanical belay system that allows climbers to scale the wall without requiring an rock wall attendee to be on-belay.

“One of the reasons it is already so popular is because there isn’t quite anything like it in Milledgeville that is available to students so close to campus,” WRC Director Dave Terrell said. “It’s definitely crowded right now because it has only been open a week, but I think even in April it will still be receiving a lot of attention.”

“I was delighted with the fun experience of overcoming literal obstacles and challenges to reach a goal,” senior exercise science major Jessica Sethman said. “The wall bosses (staff), were so helpful and overall it’s a great sense of accomplishment to take on a wall and reach the top.”

Some students like the wall for its hours of availability.

“I only have time to get a chance to climb at night because I have so many hours throughout the day that I spend in class, studying, or in meetings,” sophomore chemistry major Jim McPhail said. “The rock wall being open at night is not only cool with the lighting, but it’s the only time for students like me to have an opportunity to climb because of such a busy schedule.”

The rock wall is open from 4 p.m. until closing on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. For more information on operation policies, hours of operation and memberships visit gcsu.edu/wellness/.

Posted by Alan Martin on Jan 19 2012. Filed under Lead stories, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.