Nestled in the beautiful landscape of the Willamette Valley, Eugene has no shortage of opportunities to enjoy the outdoors, especially for rock climbing enthusiasts looking to ascend to new heights. With locations like Skinner’s Butte, Spencer’s Butte and Mount Pisgah for outdoor climbing, rock climbing gyms scattered across the area and even a rock wall at the student recreation center, Eugene has plenty of opportunities for everyone. If you’re looking for a community to explore these opportunities, look no further than the University of Oregon Climbing Team.
The UO Climbing Team is a self-led team consisting of 35 members, five of which are in leadership positions. Members of the climbing team range from all levels of experience creating a diverse and supportive environment for everyone to connect and improve their abilities. Nola Parnes, a sophomore from Seattle, has been climbing since she was about 10 years old and is currently the treasurer of the team. She got her start by going rock climbing with her babysitter, who then inspired her to join a rock climbing team after her parents made her take climbing classes at school.
“I’ve really learned not to doubt myself because if you doubt your abilities, you won’t be able to do something but if you’re confident that you can do it, a lot of the time you’re able to achieve whatever that goal may be,” Parnes said. “In climbing, if you walk up to a route and you don’t think you can do it, you’re probably not going to but if you walk up to it and you believe in your abilities, you’ll be able to do that climb.”
Parnes and the team practice indoors twice a week at 7:30 a.m. They start training by discussing any important details about the week or competitions. Then the team launches into drills, climbing or workout games and lastly a core workout. The drills can range in technique and footwork, including climbing slowly or not making a sound when placing your feet to learn how to carefully find your footing on the wall. The team also focuses on endurance training by climbing a route three to four times in a row in quick succession to be able to stay on the wall for longer amounts of time.
“The team is definitely just a huge group of friends like everyone knows everyone super well and the team is where I’ve made all of my best friends in college,” Parnes said. “I feel like we all have very similar ethical and moral compasses and everyone is just so kind and loves to be outside.”
Outside of practice, on the weekends the team participates in competitions. This allows them to travel all along the West Coast to different schools about half the weekends out of the year, mostly in the winter and spring term. The team arrives on Fridays and competes on Saturdays. There are three different heats throughout the day that members earn points based on each route taken.
“If you make it into finals, they do an isolation format where you and whoever else is competing sit in a back room where you’re secluded from everyone and you’re brought out one at a time to climb a route that you’ve never seen or seen anyone else climb,” Parnes said. “You have to figure it out on your own. There are usually about three or four routes and then you get scored on how far you got on each route.”
When the team is not competing on the weekends, a handful of them go out to different outside areas to climb together. Members arrive early in the morning and spend all day climbing outside, hanging out in the park, hiking and ending the day with a team dinner.
Next year, Parnes will be the president of the UO Climbing Team and looks forward to continuing to foster the very tight-knit and supportive community that the team has developed. She also plans to take more members to outdoor climbing locations so that younger members can experience the beauty and challenges of outdoor climbing while learning new abilities.
“I think students should know it’s an amazing space to meet new people and climbing is a good way to maintain strong mental health,” Parnes said. “It really helps you stay active and it’s a great outlet if you’re going through something and kind of take some time for yourself or surround yourself with others.”
For more information on the UO Climbing Team and tryouts, visit their website: https://ndparnes.wixsite.com/uo-climbing-team
