Fourth-year College student Kimberly Schreiber didn't expect to be competing against men in the final round of a Feb. 19 rock climbing competition at James Madison University.
But that's just what the co-captain of the University's newly formed climbing team found herself doing. She finished second in a tiebreaker round against three male climbers, including fellow University student and teammate Jonathan Brown.
Schreiber, who has been climbing for three years, said she was the first female climber in the competition's history to make it to the final round.
"I'm a route climber by nature, so I really wanted to do well," she said. "But I wasn't expecting to compete against the boys that day."
Brown finished fourth, slipping early in the tiebreaker round. Although most climbing competitions are sport climbing, in which the climber must anchor himself as he goes, or bouldering, in which there is no rope at all, the James Madison competition was top-rope, a more recreational form of climbing, Brown said.
Climbers went in different heats and scored points by scaling routes of varying difficulties, he explained. Brown, along with Schreiber and two others, reached the top of the four most difficult routes and thereby advanced to the tiebreaker climb.
Schreiber said the atmosphere of the competition was exciting, though the day was long. Although the competition began at 9 a.m., the final round did not start until 4:45 p.m, In between her heat and the final climb, she said she "ended up taking a nap."
Local competitive climber Matt Behrens said Schreiber belongs an "elite class" of regional climbers.
"She has great technique and balance coupled with her ability to read routes," he said.
The competition at James Madison was a first for the team, which attained club sport status in January. Schreiber said she created the team with co-captain Kelly Lugbill on the prompting of Assoc. Biology Prof. Barry Condron, who she knew through the local climbing gym.
Schreiber described climbing as an "addiction."
"When I came to U.Va. last spring, I could tell there was a huge community of climbers addicted to climbing too," she said.
Condron, who now serves as the team's adviser, said he had been "hoping to see a team at U.Va. for some time."
"My observations over the years as a professor have been that academic and long-term success usually go hand in hand with success in hobbies and sports," Condron said in an e-mail. "I see great focus and dedication in the student climbers and this speaks to an underlying attitude to life."
Schreiber said Condron was the "dad" of the team and voiced appreciation for his support.
"How about granddad?" Condron said. "My own 15-year-old climbs with them, so I probably act in a certain way.?I do care for these guys though and want to make sure everything is safe." In the past rock climbing at the University has been the domain of the Outdoors Club, Brown explained. Climbing with the Outdoors Club is more recreational, but "the emphasis for the team is on competition," he said.
The team practices weekly at Rocky Top, a Charlottesville gym Schreiber said was "kind of dinky" and makes weekly trips to Peak Experiences near Richmond and Rise Up Climbing in Lynchburg.
A man Condron described as "one of the world's best climbing coaches" is currently training the team. That would be Dan Hague, the owner of Rise Up and a climber with more than 40 years of experience under his belt. He is the author of "The Self-Coached Climber," a book Brown described as a definitive text in climbing circles.
Hague said he planned to focus on the emotional and tactical skills competitive climbing demanded.
"The competitive season is on us," he said. "So I don't have a lot of time to work with them on their technical skills or physical abilities. I'd like to get them to the point where they all are confident in their ability to compete, that competing doesn't intimidate them."
Brown said the team plans to participate in the Collegiate Climbing Series this semester. The team next competes March 5.
Behrens is familiar with the regional competitive climbing circuit and commented favorably on the team's chances.
"There are some very strong climbers on that team," he said. "I know they all have the capability of competing and doing very well."
Schreiber said she had seen the team, originally a handful of members, swell to 19 athletes.
"The team's goal is for everyone to come together as a climbing community and learn from each other," she said. "Everyone wants to get good to climb outside because the places you go climbing are just beautiful, and you often find challenging routes that push you to your extreme limit."
Although climbing as a team has its benefits, the sport is an individual one, Schreiber said. Each person has a different reason to climb. While Brown said he enjoyed the "tactile sensation" of climbing, and Condron reminisced about the "calculated risk" of climbing through continental Europe, Behrens spoke about the mental determination the sport demanded.
"It's kind of a mental game coupled with the physical aspect," he said. "You can never master climbing. You can only hope to succeed"
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