When picking the theme for the annual Wheaton climbing competition, senior Bekah Hadley and junior Jaxon Bennett looked to a scene from the 1987 film “The Princess Bride,” where Cary Elwes’ Man in Black scales a daunting cliff face to rescue his beloved princess.
The competition, which was held on Feb. 3, officially opened the Chrouser Sports Complex climbing wall for student use during the semester. Bennett and Hadley are two of the eight paid climbing wall staff, who manage the climbing wall and supervise student use during its opening hours on weekday evenings.
The “Cliffs of Insanity” theme was only one of the reasons Annika Van Dyke, a senior interdisciplinary studies major, showed up to climb in the Comp. “Princess Bride” is one of her favorite movies, but she also wanted a rerun of last year, when she left too early to compete in the final climb. This year, Van Dyke won first place in the women’s division.
“This year was a redemption for me, and I still can’t believe I got first place,” she said. “I think this year was more special for me personally because of that.”
Before each final climb, the climber gets to pick a walkout song. Van Dyke chose “Crazy Train,” Ozzy Osbourne’s 1980 solo debut, because it was her dad’s walkout song during his Wheaton student athlete years.
“The Comp,” as the event is known, usually has a theme and aims to bring students interested in climbing into Eckert Gym for some friendly competition.
“There’s about six different levels of climbing that we set,” said Bennett, who also serves as the Record’s business manager. “And for the competition, we have about eighteen or nineteen routes that we categorize from difficulty level from beginner, intermediate, advanced.”
The goal of the competition is to climb as many routes up the wall as you can within your difficulty level. Routes are given point values based on difficulty, and each person is scored on the top three routes they climb. This year’s routes were named after scenes from “The Princess Bride.”
James Battersby, a senior music major, placed first in the men’s division in his second year of the Comp. In classic Wheaton style, Battersby found opportunities for fellowship while suspended in midair, maneuvering up the wall.
“It’s great chatting with other people working on the same route I am, and so we’re chatting about the difficult and easy parts,” he said. “And then you kind of get to know more people through that, and that’s always really fun.”
Both Battersby and Van Dyke received trophies and REI backpacks for their first-place finishes in the competition.
The climbing wall will be open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings from 9:15 to 11, and 2-5 pm on Saturdays, for the remainder of A-quad.
