Bowdoin's vast outdoor opportunities have drawn students to campus for generations, but outside of conventional wilderness sports like alpine skiing and ocean kayaking, the campus has seen little variety of activities for the college's thrill-seekers. That is, until this semester, when first-year Liz Hedrick pressed for and ultimately earned the needed funding to bring the Bowdoin Rock Climbing Club to life.
Hedrick had a variety of motivations for starting the group. "I am an obsessive rock climber, and I wanted to connect with other people who are into climbing," she said. "Furthermore, since Bowdoin doesn't have its own climbing wall, interested rock climbers always had to travel to Portland to use the gym there, and that became time-consuming and expensive."
Hedrick, the club's current president, succeeded where Mike Hammer '06 and Carl Klimt '06 had not. Hammer and Klimt proposed a rock climbing club last year, but the idea never gained steam or the essential funding.
Hedrick's fellow rock climbers are excited that the club has finally materialized. "The best part is that now there's an organized climbing community, which means people can push themselves to get better, but perhaps more importantly there's a forum to introduce people to the sport," said Peter Schoene '05.
"I know for myself and a handful of others, climbing has changed our lives and shapes us today, and it's nice to be able to share that with others. It's been wonderful to see people latch on to this activity, something that never happened before the club," Schoene said.
Hedrick felt that many people who would ordinarily be interesting in joining the group would be deterred by the costs of having to use the Portland facilities. Once the college began funding the group, however, many people expressed interest in joining, much to Hedrick's delight.
Economics Professor and Department Chair John Fitzgerald is the group's faculty advisor. "Students had shown a lot of interest in a climbing group over the past few years, and it's great that there's an organization now to help bring climbers together," Fitzgerald said.
Members range from beginning climbers to people who have been climbing practically their whole lives. As Eric Volpe '08 half-jokingly said, "it's not a tightly knit crew of seclusive nutcases, it's a loosely knit network of total lunatics, so all are welcome!"
The club boasts a large first-year concentration, which shows promise for the group's development and continuity. Volpe added, "Since the majority of us are first-years, we look forward to climbing with the Bowdoin community for years to come."
The group travels to a rock climbing gym in Portland three times a week and provides instruction to climbers, stressing both the safety techniques involved and the more creative and nuanced aspects of the sport. The rock climbing gym contains manmade walls with holes that are meant to simulate actual climbing routes on natural cliffs and rocks. Climbers use this resource to hone their climbing skills and challenge themselves as athletes.
The club also hopes to plan some outdoor trips for the spring. "I can't wait to get outside once the snow melts," said Schoene, "and get people out to Camden, Pawtuckaway, Shagg Crag, Clifton, and even Acadia."
Members are also looking into getting a climbing wall here on campus. Such a resource would not only eliminate the time-consuming and expensive trips to the Portland gym, it would also allow members to better prepare for competitive climbing.
"We can't expect to be able to compete with other schools seeing as every NESCAC school has a good climbing wall, except us," said Schoene.
"Hopefully with the strong presence of the climbing club, the school will take us seriously, because in reality, building a wall doesn't cost much in comparison to what is spent elsewhere," he said.
While rock climbing is a challenging activity that demands a certain level of agility, strength, and perseverance, Hedrick affirms that "it is such an amazing stress release. You just put your mind to it and go. Climbing serves to motivate some particularly mellow people and to calm some particularly intense people. It requires one hundred percent concentration and pushes all other worries to the side."
Hedrick encourages curious students to check out this unique group. "Just try it, you have nothing to lose. It's 100 percent safe, and who knows, you might surprise yourself with your abilities."