“Look to your right!” shouted a student belaying his friend, cocking his head and eyeing the final foothold in the neon tape route that zig-zagged up the 25-foot fiberglass climbing wall. “It’s right there!”

The student ascending the wall shifted his weight, found the crevice to his right and got the final hold to complete the route.

“Now you have to kiss the yellow x!” shouted his smiling friend from the floor. “Kiss it!”

Nestled between the basketball courts and yoga room in Arrillaga is a place for the adventurous. The fiberglass rock-climbing wall was added to the Arrillaga Center for Sports and Recreation about three years ago after a student group took an interest in rock climbing. Since then, the student-run climbing wall has become a unique fixture of the student experience.

“I had never done it before and it’s free,” said Abraham Cabangbang ‘10. “So I figured out I might as well do it. It’s turning out to be a lot of fun.”

According to Andy Fields, director of outdoor education, the climbing wall receives an average of about 1,000 participants per quarter, but actual participation is probably higher.

Jon Denby ‘11 was introduced to rock climbing during his freshman year at NSO and “fell in love with it.”

“I basically started climbing a lot for the next year and got really into it,” Denby said.

Now a staffer at the wall, Denby explained that he was originally an intense swimmer in high school and was looking for a new sport — rock climbing was it.

“I’ve always loved climbing trees back home in New Jersey,” Denby said. “My friends were just like, let’s go to the climbing wall. And I said ok.”

Robert Schiemann ‘11, a rock-wall staffer, said that other students had similar reactions to Denby, and that the climbing wall is seeing a spike in people trying climbing during winter quarter.

“It can get busy and crazy here,” Schiemann said. “There can be rushes of about 60 people. There is a small group of 20 to 40 people who come in at least three or four times a week.” The capacity of the room is only about 50 to 60 people.

“I had someone from the manufacturer come down to inspect our wall recently,” Fields said. “And he was amazed at how much we use our wall. At some point in the next few years, we are going to wear it out.”

With the amount of interest there is on campus, we could easily use a climbing wall seven times our size,” Fields added. “The Stanford community would love it.”

Students say they’ve become hooked on climbing because it not only provides a total-body workout but also a test of endurance.

“It’s pretty fun,” said Rafael Olympia ‘10. “It’s challenging, but you have to really think about what to grip on and what to step on.”

Jake Zeller ‘13 was surprised that rock-climbing took so much effort and energy.

“It’s very humbling because you see a small little wall and it’s a challenge to get three feet up,” he said.

Climbers must break down every step in front of them to confront the wall as a whole. Fields said that this translates to a real life skill, where you are handed a big problem, but have to hack at it piece by piece.

“If you start somewhere real basic,” Fields said, “the step right in front of you, it makes the goal a lot more doable and attainable.”
“There is goal setting and overcoming fears and problem solving,” he added. “No matter what level you are as a climber, there is always a barrier to overcome.  It definitely promotes strength and endurance. “

At the climbing wall, students have the option of either bouldering or top-roping.  Bouldering means that climbers scale a 12-foot wall without rope while top-roping requires climbers to be secured by ropes by a partner who will belay them from the ground.

According to Fields, anyone who has access to Arrillaga has access to free belay lessons, shoes and harnesses, versus the $15 to $20 daily passes at outside commercial gyms.

“I teach beginner climbing classes,” Denby said. “People usually get a lot more confident by the end of the class even though they are innately afraid of heights. I was too, but now I can be 500 feet off the ground and not care at all. It’s a good way to get over their fear of heights.”

In general, climbing at Stanford costs much less than climbing in other places.  Lessons range from $50 to $75 dollars for eight weeks, depending on the length of the lesson.

“We want them to learn the skills so that if they like rock climbing they can pursue it and do it in their lives,” Fields said. “Our goal is to provide as much as we can to the community.”

For many students, the climbing wall is a good workout in and of itself, but other more serious climbers use Arrillaga’s climbing wall as practice for the real rock climbing experience outdoors.

“Problem solving, endurance and strength are the same,” Fields said of outdoor climbing. “However, outside there is exposure since you’re not following a taped route. When it comes down to it though, climbing is climbing.”

Rock climbing aficionados often take trips to nearby outdoor venues such as Yosemite, Lake Tahoe’s Lover’s Leap and Castle Rock State Park.

“You’re in a beautiful setting when you’re hanging off a cliff,” Denby said. “You kinda get experience in most of your senses when you’re climbing. You get the feel of your hands on the rock. You get the sounds of the wind rushing at the cliff. It’s just you, the sound of the wind, and the trees below you.”

“It’s just rock, but it’s more than rock,” Fields said.