Since the Climbing Club at Texas State began eight years ago, the number of members has hiked up with more opportunities to grow as they work to peak the interest of students at Texas State.

The Climbing Club is a club centered around rock climbing both indoors and outdoors.  The club meets twice a week on Tuesdays at Armadillo Boulders, a climbing gym in San Marcos as well as Thursdays at the Student Recreation Center. They also meet every other weekend to climb outside in different areas around Texas. 

At their first meeting of the semester on Aug. 24, the club had a total of 102 members. 

“It was nuts,” Hayden Mitchell, president of the Climbing Club, said. “It has never been that busy, like since the club has been founded.”

This was a big change since COVID-19, when the club died and the former president, Jonah Hartley, built the club from the ground up by himself. 

With Hartley’s help, the Climbing Club has been able to participate in climbing competitions throughout Texas that are hosted by different universities like UTSA, Baylor and A&M. 

In this competition, there are different colored plastics in which participants are given a color that they must stick to through the climb. The goal is to see if participants can get it on their first try, how many different routes they can make or how fast they can do it. 

The club has gone to Austin and A&M Commerce to compete and hosted a competition called “Flash Fest” in April and are currently working to host another one in November.

Mitchell said that joining the Climbing Club has provided him with physical benefits. 

“It doesn’t even [feel] like you’re working out, because it’s just like, ‘I just need to finish climbing these green holes all the way to the top,’” Mitchell said. “But then, you give that like 20 tries and you realize I kinda just did 100 push-ups.”

While climbing provides benefits for arms, back, shoulders and cores, Titan Ferguson, a wildlife biology junior, has found that climbing also benefits the heart.

“It’s just like fast yoga, if you think about it,” Ferguson said.”It gets your heart pumping. If you treat it right, you can really get a good workout out of it.”

While Ferguson enjoys the benefits provided through climbing, he also enjoys how the Climbing Club has allowed him to continue his climbing career. 

“A lot of climbers, I know, just get really into it and then they kind of fall off and then get back into it after a couple months,” Ferguson said. “But going twice a week, maybe three times a week has really helped me get back into it really well. I feel like this has been a good motivator to keep me consistently climbing because I can be around my friends. The social aspects are really nice and a good motivator.”

Ferguson has been able to bond with the club members, Robert Stein, an anthropology junior, said the club has been an outlet to meet new friends.

“We do a lot of stuff besides just rock climbing,” Stein said. “We play a lot of volleyball together, we go hiking, we do activities on the river, all that kind of stuff.” 

The club requires a $40 membership fee which includes the Rec membership fee and a fee to allow you to climb at other climbing gyms for a discounted price.

For information on the Climbing Club at Texas State, visit www.campusrecreation.txst.edu/things-to-do/playsports/sport-clubs/climbing-club.