Christy Klein
Two adults with a child in an adaptive climbing chair
Mallory Jasicky, left, and Talon Edseth-Griffin get Matias ready for the rock wall.
Monica Herrera watches her son, Nicolas, waving from 20 feet above her. Nicolas’s twin brother, Matias, observes from the ground.
“Can I go now?” Matias says, eagerly awaiting his turn. Hieu Giang, his father, laughs as Nicolas sticks his tongue out in response.
The boys, age 11, have Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a condition that causes muscle weakness and loss. They get around in motorized wheelchairs, which hasn’t slowed them down. Herrera and Giang keep their sons busy in adaptive sports. Their family has been waterskiing, biking, snow skiing, and now they are trying rock climbing for the first time.
“We like to keep trying new activities,” Herrera says. So far, both Nicolas and Matias have enjoyed snow skiing the most.
The family of four found Boulders Climbing Gym East’s monthly adaptive climbing event through one of the company’s promotional videos that gained popularity on TikTok. Held the last Sunday of every month, the workshop is led by adaptive climbing coordinator Kat Floyd, Boulders employee Talon Edseth-Griffin, and volunteers.
“We’ll teach anybody who wants to volunteer how to assist people in any number of ways,” says Edseth-Griffin. “My favorite thing to do is be a side-climber. I’ll basically climb underneath [the climber], and I’ll place their feet on the rocks for them.”
Nicolas and Matias had just been at the top of a different rock wall with the support of seven-year volunteer Janet Poff. On that climb, she acted as side-climber as the boys took turns; Poff climbed alongside and manually placed their hands and feet on the holds as they scaled the 25-foot route together. The harnesses, connected to the belay line, provided them with enough support so the boys could grip the rocks without requiring the muscle to hold their entire body weight.
Boulders’ adaptive climbing program was started with a grant from UW-Madison in early 2014 by Kim Bruksch-Meck and Sarah Hagedon. At the end of the year, Boulders partnered with Adaptive Adventures, a nonprofit that provides accessible outdoor sports opportunities, so the gym could continue its adaptive climbing program.
Adaptive Adventures provides progressive sports and all needed accommodations for individuals with disabilities; their sports offerings include alpine skiing and snowboarding, kayaking, cycling, whitewater rafting, waterskiing, and of course, rock climbing.
When COVID upended the world, the organization was forced to scale back significantly, leaving many adaptive sports programs without support. Boulders felt it was important to continue the work.
The climbing program at Boulders, which serves all ages and abilities, has slowly been gaining popularity due to word of mouth. In 2015, Boulders also began organizing outdoor trips. Similar programs also run through Adventure Rock locations in the Milwaukee area, and adaptive climbing is gaining popularity throughout the country.
Certain climbing routes and walls at the gym are reserved for adaptive climbers. Volunteers belay them, or manage the rope, and provide whatever accommodation is needed. Those accommodations range from verbal cues to direct side-climbing support to gear, such as a special harness or the ARC Harness, which provides people with more severe physical disabilities the means to climb. Each climber is different, and so the modifications vary depending on who’s on the wall.
“It just makes sense,” says Edseth-Griffin. “Just because they have a disability doesn’t mean they shouldn’t get to do things like [climbing].”
Chad Donahue, who is clinically blind, has been climbing for a year. Today he is working with volunteer Jamie Koenig on his route up the wall. He can make it to the top of the wall with the help of some verbal cues from Koenig.
“I used to play a lot of sports,” he says. “It’s fun to be able to play sports again. I even climbed outside with this group in spring at Devil’s Lake.”
In recent years Boulders has hosted an annual adaptive climbing trip to Devil’s Lake. The rangers there grant permission for needed adaptations, such as the use of the access roads so that the climbers can camp for the weekend and climb the routes there. This year, the trip was held in May. Some climbers camp all weekend, others come out for the day; the trip is designed to be as accessible as possible to accommodate all abilities and all schedules.
After Nicolas is lowered to the ground, Matias is lifted to the top of the rock wall. This time, Herrera and Giang also try their hand at climbing. Herrera makes it halfway up the wall before being lowered to the ground. Giang, who used to climb when he was younger, reaches the top and gives Matias a high-five while the crowd on the ground cheers.
For Edseth-Griffin, this is the reason he loves being a part of adaptive climbing. “I just love hanging out with those folks. Everybody’s so fun, and we have a really strong sense of community.”
The highlight for Matias and Nicolas? “Being at the top and looking down.”
