As one of the few students not in athletics at Northwestern (NW), I usually am out of the loop when it comes to new building projects on that side of campus. To me, it seems like most sports at NW have pretty good facilities, and there does not seem to be much missing from the RSC in terms of fitness equipment.
Unless, of course, we are talking about a rock-climbing wall. I am not talking about an 8-foot-tall wall you would find in an elementary school gym, either. I am talking floor to ceiling in the RSC four courts kind of wall; one with multiple, frequently changed paths, with bouldering options as well.
As a connoisseur of being mediocre at rock-climbing, I find it to be a delightful form of exercise because it is one that can be enjoyed all year round. I am someone that enjoys biking and going on hikes when it is nice outside during the spring, summer and autumn, but a rock-climbing gym is a fun way of maintaining physical activity throughout the cold Iowa winters as well. It is a great way to test your limits, gain muscle, get over a fear of heights and could be a much needed study break for NW students.
Adding a rock-climbing gym to NW’s campus would not only benefit students, but it could also be a bridge between NW and the surrounding community. There used to be a climbing gym in Sioux City, but now the closest place to go rock climbing is Sioux Falls. While it is a fantastic climbing gym and fun to go occasionally, it is not something one can do frequently with the hour and a half drive it takes. Usually, when people do have time to go on the weekends, they walk in and realize that everyone else can also only go on the weekends, and it ends up being more crowded than most people would prefer.
Adding a climbing gym to NW and opening it to the public with daily or monthly passes would allow community members in Orange City and surrounding towns to take advantage of a climbing wall within a reasonable distance. People would be able to climb throughout the week, meaning there would be a steady, but not overwhelming, amount of people using it. The income generated from these passes for community members may even allow the climbing gym to pay for itself and eventually generate income because there are no other climbing gyms in Northwest Iowa.
Smaller colleges having climbing gyms is not unheard of, either. Wheaton College in Illinois, where my brother goes to school, features an indoor rock-climbing wall, where he has developed his climbing skills over the past few years, as he is able to go multiple times a week. Imagine my horror when we took a trip to Sioux Falls during our winter break and he climbed every path we tried with few issues, leaving my sweaty hands and lacking skills in the dust, or rather, in the hands of the auto belayer I have come to rely on. Coe College and Wartburg College, two colleges in Iowa, also have rock-climbing walls, giving their students a fun, alternative, way of getting exercise.
If NW is willing to house a rock-climbing gym, partnering with the city of Orange City may be another option. Dordt University partners with Sioux Center in order to have and maintain the ice rink in the All Seasons Center, allowing their teams to practice while having the ice rink as a skating option for the public as well. It even has skate rentals and holds skating classes. This is something that could happen at a rock-climbing gym at NW as well. Having harnesses for people to rent, classes in belaying, top rope and lead climbing, as well as hosting competitions could generate excitement, income and make a rock-climbing gym a worthwhile investment.
But, until this delightful addition is made to the expansive NW sports facilities, I will continue to traverse up to Sioux Falls on the weekends, waiting my turn to struggle up a wall that a fifth grader probably just scaled with little to no issues.
