As the school year draws closer to its end, climbers like Soren Stime and KJ Stime are picking up where they left off last summer.
Wild Walls in downtown Spokane is a place where climbing enthusiasts of all skill levels can come to have fun and maybe try to hone their skills.
“It’s fun to be up high,” high school freshman, Soren said. “The best part is jumping down once you finally get to the top.”
“There’s a place on the centennial trail called Minnehaha,” Soren said. “It’ll probably be more challenging than the rock walls here, because it’s, you know, actual rock climbing.”
Wild Walls is one of the few indoor rock climbing facilities in Spokane. Climbers at Wild Walls can choose from a variety of courses, with names like “The Wave,” “The Goldfish” and “The Corridor.”
“I like rock climbing because it’s a good workout, it’s very fun, and I get to spend time with my little brother,” KJ, a Harvard student said. “My favorite aspect of rock climbing is when you keep trying and trying to go a difficult route, and then you finally get to the top. It’s a great feeling.”
In the sport of outdoor rock climbing, the goal is to successfully climb to a designated target, like the top of a cliff or rock face, then make it back to the starting point without falling from the rock. While climbing, harnesses and belaying devices prevent climbers from plunging to the ground.
“Lots of times people come here to train before they go climb outside,” a Wild Walls employee, Noah Peller, said. “But even then, they mostly come to have a blast, get a workout, spend time with their friends, etc.”
Christopher Adams, another employee and regular climber, climbs outdoors more often than indoors.
“I mostly climb outdoors with friends,” Adams said. “I climb at Deep Creek, over by Seven Mile, and then up at Marcus and Metaline Falls, which are limestone, so they’re pretty sweet.”
If he could change just one thing about the indoor rock walls, Adams would make them bigger.
“It’d be cool for the indoor courses to be about three times as tall as they are now,” Adams said. “At some outdoor sites, you climb to 55 feet and you’re just getting started.”
According to Adams, climbing outdoors is more complicated due to the variety of climbing terrains.
“The most difficult aspect of climbing outdoors is you have to have a wide variety of techniques. You have to kinda have a skill set banked away to use with different surfaces,” Adams said. “You learn by repetition, by seeing what you are doing wrong and what you are doing right. It’s gradual.”
Friends of Adams got him into the sport five years ago and he has been climbing regularly since then.
“What I like most about rock climbing is that when you are climbing, you get to be in beautiful places,” Adams said. “It’s good for people who like to be outside, and to enjoy the physical aspect, the mental aspect, and even the social aspect, with friends.”