YOUR AD HERE »

Local climbing team adventures to Utah

Daily staff report
newsroom@vail.com

VAIL — The Vail Athletic Club climbing team recently traveled with 13 athletes and parents and four coaches to The Front Climbing Gym in Salt Lake City for the USA Climbing Sport Regional Championships. The local climbers earned a third-place finish as a team, advancing 11 athletes to the divisional championships in Bozeman, Montana, next weekend.

At the heart of the growth of indoor climbing is the popularity of youth competitive climbing. USA Climbing reports that the participation in the Youth Bouldering Regional Championships jumped 23 percent throughout the past year, while USA Climbing membership grew by 13 percent. The Regional Championships were hosted by 16 indoor climbing gyms nationwide last month, and brought together 2,458 youth climbers, aged 7 to 19.

“We are so excited and proud of our entire team for their performance in Salt Lake. We were competing against gyms that had two or three times as many athletes as our team, and we still took third place,” Head Coach Larry Moore said. The athletes from the Vail Athletic Club team included Jose Ascencio, Ethan Pitcher, Camille Olson, Deagen Fahrney, Zoe Schelde, Clay Copenhaver, Brody Nielsen, Benji Dantas, Amalia and Aiden Manning, Lukas and Emma and Ava Bergsten.



Of that group, the following athletes will go to the divisional championships in Bozeman to compete today and Sunday: Dantas (second place); Amalia Manning (third place); Pitcher (third place); Nielsen (fifth place); Schelde (sixth place); Lukas Bergsten (seventh place); Copenhaver (ninth place); Olson (10th place); Emma Bergsten (10th place); Aiden Manning (11th place) and Ava Bergsten (11th place).

For information about climbing and youth programs at the Vail Athletic Club, email Larry.atgi@gmail.com or call 970-949-6366.


Support Local Journalism