On Thursday night, the University of Idaho Student Recreation Center invited students to participate in refinishing the rock wall’s handholds.
The event drew a crowd, who enjoyed free pizza while creating new routes for climbers to traverse across.
The route setters on staff at the SRC removed handholds on the rock-climbing wall so they could be washed and replaced with newer ones, with the help from event attendees. Certain holds can only be secured by bolts at specific areas on the wall and the paid setters taught newcomers how to secure the holds, said Elise Clausen, the Outdoor Program director of the Climbing Center.
“This is the first event like this that we’ve ever done,” Clausen said.
“(We’re) engaging a different using group at the climbing center. We have volunteer route setting Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-11 p.m. and Sundays from 12-2 p.m., and I have a staff of paid setters that help them during those times. We wouldn’t be able to run this center without volunteers,” Clausen said.
Around four to six paid setters work for the SRC and volunteer numbers can fluctuate depending on the day, she said.
Bradley Burgess | Argonaut
University of Idaho students replot the UI Recreation Center rock climbing wall in a night of free pizza, fun, and community service.
Graduate Andy Gonzalez works at the center as route setter and has been rock climbing for 17 years.
“I like giving back to the community. I like to help (volunteers) along so their job is a little easier. To be honest, it doesn’t seem like work because I have fun,” Gonzalez said.
Freshman Matthew Young said he had no prior experience in route setting before this event.
“I’ve been interested in rock climbing and I wanted to figure out how to make the routes and I want to see how it’s done,” Young said.
He said he is interested in knowing how to construct a rock climbing route.
“Climbing them is pretty fun, but making your own so you can have other people try it out sounds more fun,” Young said.
Clausen said she hopes to attract more people interested in assisting at the SRC to events like these.
“Hopefully, they’ll be enticed by more people coming and it not being super late at night,” Clausen said. “I want to encourage more volunteer route setters to involve them at a time that’s a little more convenient.”
Bradley Burgess can be reached at [email protected]