Anna Hansen
David Greenwell, a graduate student in electrical engineering, winces as he climbs during the Boulder Bash at Carmichael Gymnasium on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023. Greenwell was dressed as Harry Potter, as participants were encouraged to dress up in Halloween costumes for a contest following the Bash.
How often do you see a ladybug, a cowboy or a wizard scaling a rock wall? At the Wellness and Recreation Climbing Center’s Halloween-themed Boulder Bash, students donned costumes to rock climb in unconventional outfits.
Boasting 40 competitors this year, the Boulder Bash is a bouldering competition that invites student climbers to compete in costume for a variety of prizes, including passes to local climbing gyms, chalk bags and Wellness and Recreation swag.
Katie Jansen, a fourth-year studying criminology and psychology, is the climbing wall programs assistant and the main organizer of the event. Jansen said while the Boulder Bash is a competition, the event is mostly focused on involvement and community.
“The goal is just to get people climbing, not necessarily to create an ultra-competitive atmosphere,” Jansen said. “It’s more just for fun.”
Participants were given four hours to climb as many of the 41 bouldering routes on the shorter interior walls of the Climbing Center as they could. Participants were greeted with an all new collection of unlabeled climbs set the day before.
“We set from 9 to 5 the day before,” Jansen said. “Our setting team is great, so I know that the boulders will be exciting. Even after the actual competition. It’s kind of fun to climb all of the [new routes], like the entire inside bouldering wall is reset.”
The Climbing Center was crowded with participants and spectators.
The event is beginner-friendly and allows students to self-select into the beginner, intermediate or advanced competition categories. Climbers had unlimited attempts to complete routes, and their scores were determined by the sum of their five hardest routes climbed.
For beginner climbers like Izzy Cogan, a second year studying integrative physiology and neurobiology who had only climbed a few times before, the accessibility of the event meant getting the chance to try out climbing more.
“It’s just interesting trying new routes and trying new things,” Cogan said. “They have easy routes and medium routes and hard routes.”
For Alyssa Franklin, a third-year studying business administration who has been climbing for two years, the competition offered a chance to engage with the climbing community at NC State.
“I like getting cheered on; it makes me do better.” Franklin said. “I think the rock wall in general is a really nice community. And when we have competitions like this, it’s really easy to see people that you might see but never talk to. It’s a good excuse to start conversations.”
Though bouldering routes are typically graded from V0 to V10, the routes were unlabeled for the competition. While the labels give an idea of the difficulty of routes, Franklin said climbing with them can sometimes make higher ranked routes more intimidating to try.
“I do so much better without grades, and I know I’ve heard that from other people, too,” Franklin said. “If you don’t know what it’s graded, there’s not as much pressure.”
After four hours of climb time, the competition ended with an awards ceremony and costume contest. Eighteen winners across the advanced, intermediate and beginner categories were recognized and got their pick of prizes.
The Boulder Bash is held every fall, typically on a weekend around Halloween. The Climbing Center also hosts a top-rope climbing competition, Tuffy’s Top-Rope Throwdown, every spring semester, typically in March.
For the expert climber, the casual boulderer or the brand new climber, the Boulder Bash has routes and rewards for everyone — whether that be prizes, experience or the chance to interact with the campus rock climbing community.