Every Thursday morning, the Rock On Climbing club meets to discuss climbing techniques, makes plans for when to climb and plays various card games. At their meeting on March 2, the group’s dress code was Teenage Dirtbag and they decided to play the amusing card game called “Crabs.” 

The club’s co-founder, senior Char Priadka, said that the club does various fun and educational activities to bond with each other.

“We’ve done a lot of presentations teaching people lingo for climbing and different types of holds,” Priadka said. “We also play a lot of games because we try to build community. On the weekends we try to climb as a group and we went to Octboulder Fest last fall and watched a few of our friends climb at actual competitions.”

Junior Avery Courneya said she joined the club to try a new sport and challenge herself.

“I joined the club because I needed an activity to stay active in the winter,” Courneya said. “I thought climbing would be a great way to tackle my fear of heights.”

Sophomore Paige Descarpentrie said she has enjoyed being a part of the club ever since she attended a meeting.

“I joined because I saw Maggie and Sam handing out papers at lunch and they said no experience was needed,” Descarpentrie said. “I went to a meeting on a random morning, went climbing one day and I’ve been going ever since.”

Priadka said there are many benefits to joining the Rock On Climbing club.

“I like the club because I like the community,” Priadka said. “I like to see everyone in the morning, go climbing and stay active. A lot of it for me is the social aspect — I’ve made a ton of friends who otherwise I probably wouldn’t have spoken to before because of how confined we are to our circles.”

Courneya said she enjoys the atmosphere of the club and where they climb. 

“I honestly love the ambience of the club,” Courneya said. “We climb at the Minneapolis Bouldering Project after school or on the weekends. It’s a great environment where everybody is so caring and I can always look to somebody for advice on a climb if I need it.”

Descarpentrie said she loves the community that is built within the club. 

“I like how everybody is super welcoming,” Descarpentrie said. “It doesn’t even feel like a club, it feels like a group hangout. We play cards, and when we go climbing, it’s fun to hang out and be around them.” 

Priadka said they hope that more students, especially underclassmen, will join the club. 

“My hope for the club next year is that it keeps going,” Priadka said. “This is a new club that we just started this year, and we do have a few underclassmen, but I do hope that we spark something in our younger peers and try to keep it going. We want to keep encouraging people to climb, get people to keep joining, and just have a fun time because we all have a lot of fun together.”

The Rock On Climbing club meets every Thursday morning at 7:45 a.m. in room B236.