Wall-climbing student Kylie Hicks ascends a rock wall located in Ohio State’s Outdoor Adventure Center, while being belayed by fellow student Ian Bruns.
Credit: Kamryn Karr | Lantern Reporter
As course scheduling for the fall 2024 semester approaches, many Ohio State students will look to one-credit-hour courses for either athletic engagement or learning a new skill. The university’s rock-climbing course, however, offers both.
Titled “Wall Climbing,” or KNSFHP 1141.01, the course is instructed by married couple Dan Downes and Kim Sacksteder, who said they each have over 20 years of rock-climbing experience. Since their passion for the activity began in the late ’90s, the two have encouraged others — namely students — to begin their own journeys with the sport because it engenders both mental and physical skills that can be transferred to other aspects of life, they said.
“Learning how to work together in a group where gravity is in effect is really the most important skill that [the students are] gonna learn,” Downes said. “All the movement and the technique — that’s just icing on the cake.”
Downes and Sacksteder said they began instructing the course — of which they are now the sole instructors — upon their arrival to Ohio State in 2015, though the course had been offered years prior. Despite the duo’s numerous personal climbing achievements, like Sacksteder’s completion of a particularly challenging route in Squamish, Canada, called “Magical Child,” she said her biggest accomplishment has been training others how to climb.
“In terms of being a teacher, it’s pretty great to think about how many people I’ve gotten to introduce to the sport,” Sacksteder said.
Nick Petikas, the facilities coordinator of Ohio State’s Outdoor Adventure Center — also known as OAC and where the course takes place — said he nurtured a passion for rock climbing after his college roommate introduced him to it and has been infatuated with the sport ever since.
“Climbing itself, the proprioception involved and the movement, it’s really more of a vertical dance,” Petikas said. “People think it’s this big, arduous, heavy lifting on repeat, but no, it’s such a beautiful thing.”
Petikas said he is responsible for hiring, training and teaching staff, setting the rock-wall routes and ordering equipment. Though Petikas only started working at the OAC roughly four months ago in October 2023, Downes said he has already improved Ohio State’s rock-climbing program.
“He’s a climber’s climber,” Downes said. “I think people that work there, people that go there, really appreciate that history and that tone and that energy. And they talk about it.”
Petikas said one of his favorite aspects of rock climbing is the sense of camaraderie that comes with it, particularly when a climber successfully completes a challenging climbing route.
Wall-climbing student Kylie Hicks ascends a rock wall located in Ohio State’s Outdoor Adventure Center, while being belayed by fellow student Ian Bruns. Credit: Kamryn Karr | Lantern Reporter
“If you’re working really hard to send a route in the gym and the community knows you’ve been working on it and you finally get the send, people will cheer,” Petikas said. “People will congratulate you when you get down because they know you’ve put the time in.”
For Sacksteder, the stress-relieving component is particularly rewarding for college students, she said.
“For a lot of the students, it becomes a place that they go for the week where they can let their troubles be out of the way and have a space where they can mindfully enjoy that,” Sacksteder said.
Kylie Hicks, a third-year in psychology, and Ian Bruns, a fourth-year in business, are two students currently enrolled in the course who said they are relatively new to rock climbing but have already started to notice its benefits. Hicks said she specifically takes pleasure in the social aspect.
“It’s a great way to make friends because you do have their life in your hands when they’re up on the wall and you’re belaying,” Hicks said. “So, I think it’s a great way to build trust with your peers or even greater trust with your friendships.”
Beyond the physical benefits, Bruns said he has strengthened his mental abilities to strategize and persevere.
“A lot of the time, if you try to climb for the first time, you’re not gonna get to the top, and you have to go back down on the ground and kind of map out what you did, maybe what you should do in the future and just try it again,” Bruns said. “It teaches a lot of perseverance and strategy and I think that’s all very transferable to the real world.”
Sacksteder said she and Downes place special emphasis on rock climbing’s safety concerns because, if not performed properly, the sport can be very dangerous.
“This is a place where you have to be OK with people questioning you because they’re questioning you to make sure that you’re going to be OK or that the person on the other end of that rope is going to be OK,” Sacksteder said.
Petikas said admission to the OAC is included in Ohio State tuition and therefore is accessible to even students who are not enrolled in the course.
“It’s 100% free for students,” Petikas said. “We don’t nickel and dime for rental harnesses or shoes.”
As a result, Sacksteder said she encourages students of any skill level to visit the OAC and try their hand at rock climbing.
“You don’t have to walk in the door with experience or knowing what you’re doing,” Sacksteder said. “You can walk in the door curious and they’ll take good care of you and help you figure out what to do.”
For those considering rock climbing, Downes, Sacksteder and Petikas recommend attending a climbing competition titled “Gravity Check,” which will take place March 23 at the OAC. More information about the OAC and its facilities can be found on its webpage.
