Carl Castro – Special to the Southern News
Hanging by the edge of his fingertips Steve Krozer, nursing major at Southern, uses every muscle in his body in an effort to scale a 30 foot rock-climbing wall at City Rock Gym located in New Haven. Krozer started climbing in December 2013 and has joined Southern’s rock climbing club, SCSU Rock Crushers, to enhance his skills. “I eventually want to mountaineer—climbing big, tall mountains—and ice climbing is one of the skills you need to do that,” Krozer said. “Rock climbing is the more accessible version of that.”
Kelly Bordner, professor of psychology at Southern, is the group’s faculty advisor and helped start-up the group alongside student president Jacqueline Turcios. Before starting the group, Bordner said students needed an opportunity to be exposed to a more interesting and physical fitness-activity. She also said the group currently has a dozen members, meeting every Tuesday night at City Rock Gym, consisting of different ages and skill levels. “All the way from people who are complete beginners, people who have never put on a harness before, to people who are more advanced,” said Bordner.
After learning how to put on a harness, Bordner said students will then learn how to belay, a two-person technique that climbers use to help prevent falling from large distances. One end of the rope is fixed to the harness of the lead climber, passes through an anchor attached on the wall or ceiling, then passes through a belay device attached to the second person that is positioned on the ground. The person on the ground, or belayer, uses the belay device to control the amount of slack-distance, decreasing the distance the climber falls before the rope is taut. “You just trust the people that are belaying you,” said Ryan Demkar, nursing major at Southern. “You know that if you fall you’re not going to hit the ground.”
Dr. Volker R. Schöffl, sport orthopedic specialist from Sportsmedicine in Bamberg, Germany, published a study in 2013 involving injuries in indoor climbing gyms. Evaluating over 500,000 indoor climbers, in a five year period (2007-2011). The study showed indoor climbing has a low risk of injury. Most injuries were of minor to moderate severity with zero fatalities. The injuries recorded could have been preventable such as, falls caused by improper knots tied on a rope or poor gym equipment. Demkar said the physicality in climbing has helped him stay motivated in working-out and members agree that there’s a level of fitness and dieting that is consistent with being part of the climbing community.
A study conducted by Dr. Bill Sheel, professor of kinesiology at the University of British Columbia, observed the physiological effects rock climbing has on professional climbers. The study showed that elite climbers had a high level of muscular endurance, flexibility, and a low percentage of body fat.
Dave Grylka, economics major, said he enjoys not only the physical challenges but also the mental challenges—challenges that only climbing presents.”When I first came here I just threw myself up the wall and I was terrible, but you start to gain [body] awareness and realize the meaning of perseverance,” said Grylka. “When you’re climbing at different angles and trying to get leverage, you start to realize that there’s a thinking process behind climbing.”
Bordner said she plans to create a rock climbing team to compete with other schools like UConn. She also plans to work with Ascent Climbing, a company that provides guided outdoor expeditions, to provide members—like Krozer—an opportunity to participate in outdoor rock and ice climbing. “I want to climb Everest,” said Krozer. “Short-term it’s Denali in Alaska.”
