In Baltimore Area, Finding New Heights by Scaling Rocks

Jason Weesner is halfway up the wall when he hesitates.

He briefly glances down to check his foot position, then plots his next move. Pushing and pulling himself to the top of the 28-foot edifice, he pauses for a moment and yells “take!” -- the rock climber’s jargon for “get me down!” Once he is back on the floor, he unties the knot in his rope and rests.

This is Weesner’s first indoor rock-climbing session -- an introductory class at Earth Treks Climbing Center in Timonium, Md. Recently, he climbed the Via Ferrata course at Nelson Rocks Preserve Inc. in West Virginia as part of an outdoor adventure race. The Via Ferrata, geared toward people with little or no climbing experience, sparked Weesner’s interest in the sport. When he returned to Baltimore, he signed up for a beginner program at Earth Treks.

“There was a time I would have never imagined doing this,” said Weesner, 36, an insurance-fraud investigator.

“Growing up, I was terrified of heights,” he said. “I still get that rush from up high.... You test yourself doing things like this, and you lose that fear after a while.”

Weesner plans to work his way up to climbing regularly outdoors.

Most local rock climbers say indoor climbing is the easiest way to start learning the sport.

Although the greater Baltimore area has several indoor rock-climbing walls such as Earth Treks’, the state has few parks with large outdoor rock faces.

“It’s hard to be a climber in Maryland,” said Chris Duffy, who oversees Towson University’s rock-climbing gym.

Duffy, 29, said he gets his rock-climbing thrills on trips to Seneca Rocks, W.Va., and the Shawangunks in New York state. He took up the sport about eight years ago.

Though novice climbers take up the hobby for various reasons, Duffy said, a big factor is that climbing, like running or cycling, is a sport in which you compete only with yourself.

“Everyone’s at their own level and respects the other people who are out there climbing and having fun,” Duffy said. “It’s a thrill.”

On a recent night at Earth Treks, people of all ages climbed the roughly 50-foot main walls. In the training area, Weesner was one of four men taking the beginner class. Using handholds and footholds, he and one other climber crept up the indoor walls while their partners on the ground -- called belayers -- monitored.

Before scaling the walls, climbers strap themselves into a harness that wraps around the legs and waist. When properly secured, it can hold 1,700 to 2,100 pounds of force, said instructor Derek Baumgardner. The climber loops a rope up under the harness and ties two knots.

The climber’s rope runs up to the top of the wall, through a pulley and back down to the belayer, who is also wearing a harness. The belayer takes up slack as the climber ascends, and is ready to stop the climber from falling by locking the rope in place.

Married couple Chris and Jenny Tomlin, both 23, live in White Marsh, Md., and climb together at Earth Treks. Chris Tomlin lifted weights in high school and college; now he climbs for the same benefits.

“It’s similar in the way you’re working out -- you’re doing an explosive workout,” he said.

Jenny Tomlin finds climbing a lot less monotonous than spending an hour on cardio machines.

Besides increased strength and dexterity, climbing can be life-affirming, Duffy said. There’s a satisfaction in setting your own hurdle and finding the will to jump it, he said.

“Coming down after a day of rock climbing and having those experiences, you feel renewed -- in control of your life,” Duffy said. “I also like [climbing] because it can get me to amazing places.”