My friend Sarah and I started a rock climbing club at our university last year. Our goal with this club is to introduce students to the world of rock climbing. I have to admit, climbing is an intimidating and weird sport to jump into… so we opened up our arms and welcomed anyone into our world haha. Our cute little club name is “Vertical Ascent Climbing Club”.

VA’s 1st General Meeting @ The outdoor rock wall & ropes course on campus

The greatest part of climbing is experiencing it outdoors. Every month we try to plan 1-2 trips at our local climbing areas. Its really awesome because we meet people who have never camped or climbed outdoors before. Its an awesome experience to guide them, because their psyche is insane. The new members are always excited to experience new things, are are willing to learn more and more. Climbing has done so much for my own personal life, so I am more than willing to help others experience the sport as well.

VA’s first outdoor climbing/camping trip to Malibu Creek

When I climb (especially in bouldering areas) I usually run into a group of kids who are outdoor bouldering for the first time. Unfortunately most of the time they are being loud, obnoxious, and disrespectful to the landscape around them. I cant judge them, because they havent been shown how to respect the land and the climbers around them.

So, with our club. We want to introduce them to the climbing world in a respectful manner. Climbing etiquette can be common sense, but not all of it is obvious. So it is important to show these new climbers all about the world of climbing, respectfully, and in the safest manner possible.

A group of new & experienced climbers at Mt. Rubidoux. A local climbing spot 5min away from campus.

1st VA climbing trip out to Joshua Tree National Park

Brought out the mobile rock wall ON campus!

Even though we are a new club, the VA cabinet has worked really hard to create all these events and lessons for our members. We are really excited that our club is hosting the regionals for CCS Regionals (Colegiate Climbing Series, part of USA climbing)  at our local climbing gym Threshhold.

CCS series has not been present in the SoCal region. So, this year is a trail run for our universities. Socal has an extensive climbing community, and I see these competitions as a great way to gather us all together. UCSD/USD & UCR are the three colleges this year that are participating in SoCal CCS.

Pretty psyched for it to come together, its coming so close! I met up with the guys at Mad Rock HQ to sponsor the event. They are always happy to help the community. I managed to squeeze out two crashpads for our competition, which is VERY generous. Mad Rock always has my back

So if your in the area, come by and compete. Competition its open to EVERYONE, not just college kids. If not, come by to hang out with the climbing community! We are going to have Goodwin’s Food Truck come on by. Also, the 5.10 guys are going to be there with a shoe demo for everyone to try out!

These are the moments that make it worth it, above is one of our new members Matthew Chun who went climbing outdoors for the first time on our Bishop bouldering trip. This is victory pose after finishing a 35ft boulder!

I’m really happy on how this climbing club started out, and what its potential is. I hope the psyche can carry on years after I graduate.

… but I wont graduate if I don’t study… Biochemistry FINAL tomorrow. Gotta go, thanks for stopping by if you get to this point!

climb on. yall.

-Natalie Duran