Club Sport: Climbing Team 2020

For a school of just over 2,000 students, Colorado College has one of the strongest and most active climbing communities in the U.S. Outside magazine has called CC "a veritable feeder school for professional climbing." Our climbing club started in the 1940s and after decades of notable first ascents and cultivation of the world's best climbers, we have only recently stepped into the collegiate competition scene. 

Thanks to your gifts, last season was a huge success! We had over 50 athletes on our team roster--almost double from the previous year and eleven of our team members attended the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Regionals in Denver in March. Our team placed 3rd in the overall team championship and we had two Regional Champions! Seven of our athletes qualified for the Collegiate National Championships in Murfreesboro, TN. Five CC students were able to attend the National Championships, in which students from all around the country competed and represent their respective schools. 

Ultimately, our team placed 18th out of 94 teams, an incredible feat considering our small team size at the event. We had two athletes who made finals, Rin Gentry and Claire Bresnan, who finished with 4th and 14th National rankings, respectively, to conclude the collegiate season! Again, NONE of this would have been possible without the generosity of our alumni, family, and friends! Thank you!!

(Freshman Dova Castaneda-Zilly and Junior Captain, Zach Levy at a local competition in Denver.)

(Head Coach Katherine Hade and Freshman Ben Blackmore at a local competition in Longmont.)

Entering our second year as an official club sport at CC, our goal was to downsize the team in order to have a more involved, connected group. Our final roster includes 25+ climbers who are dedicated to competing, training, and having fun! This year, we made practices and competitions a requirement, meaning that we have a more consistent group participating in local events, and hopefully, everybody will qualify for and be able to compete in regionals. 

Our competition season is well underway and over 20 students have already qualified for Regionals by competing at various local competitions! The Regional Championships will be held in Denver in March. At Regionals, students will compete to qualify for the National Championships in Englewood, CO. Students can choose to compete in bouldering, speed, and sport climbing, with each discipline available at most competitions.

However, in our goal to make the climbing team accessible to a wide variety of students, we run a deficit in funding. While students have to pay $80 to be on the team, the team covers a USA climbing membership fee ($65), one local fee ($30), and one team shirt ($25). The team is thus left with a deficit of $40 per person, or over $1,000 for the whole team. In addition, the team tries to cover gas costs and the remaining 20% of travel fees not covered by the school for travel costs. This amount easily adds up to well over $2,000!

Today, we are calling on all climbing lovers, our past teammates, family members, and friends to help make an immediate impact in the lives of young CC climbers on their mission to take the climbing world by storm. By making a gift of today, you can help make those dreams a possibility. Thank you so much for being the power behind making our goals a reality!

CC climbers having a blast at the 2019 National Championships in Murfreesboro, TN!