Going Up
TU CLIMBING GYM OFFERS ADVENTURE, EDUCATION FOR FACULTY, STAFF AND STUDENTS
It’s managed by Adventure Pursuits, the branch
of Campus Recreation Services charged with
bringing the great outdoors to the TU campus,
from climbing to kayaking to bike tours to
backpacking.
Each of the wall’s 35 climbing routes is
unique and ranges in difficulty from beginner
to expert. The routes are changed frequently
to provide a constant challenge to climbers
and magazine writers alike.
“I plan out the moves I want the climber to
make based on the difficulty of the course,”
explains Brian Ricketts, coordinator of Adven-
ture Pursuits and the man responsible for my
vertical adversity. “I visualize the climb from
start to finish. Creating a route is like creating
art—like choreographing a dance.”
A dance? OK, I think I understand why I’m
having trouble with it.
My lack of coordination aside, Ricketts knows
his stuff. The Peregrine’s
Nest saw more than
12,000 climbers last year
and continues to attract
ever-increasing numbers.
The wall is on par with
other professional-grade
climbing gyms in the area,
but one thing sets it apart:
It offers a true educational
experience.
“We’re all about ex-
periential learning here,”
says Ricketts. “You can come in, and we’ll
give you a harness, tie you in and belay you.”
(For those who don’t know, as I didn’t, belay is
another word for ‘tie a rope around you so you
don’t hurt yourself while acting out childhood
superhero fantasies.’)
“But if you want to learn,” Ricketts contin-
ues, “we’ll show you everything you need to
know so you can do this all on your own.”
So with some helpful pointers from the
student staff, and some not-so-helpful
snickering from my photographer, by the end
of my session I was shooting up the wall
quicker than greased lightning. Not unlike a
certain costumed crime-fighter, I might add.
Each of the wall’s 35 climbing routes ranges in difficulty from
beginner to expert.
When he’s not climbing the walls, Dan Fox
is a senior editor in University Relations.
It looks easy enough. A hand here, a foot
there, and pretty soon I’d be Spidermaning
my way to the ceiling. “Yup,” I thought,
“I’ll be up in the
rafters in no time.
No instruction
necessary.” And
if it weren’t for a
couple nagging
laws of physics,
that would have
been true.
However, I
quickly learned
that climbing is
all about technique, more brains and balance than brute
and brawn. Surely this information would
have served me better while I was still on the
ground, rather than dangling 20 feet above it,
but this was, after all, a learning experience.
The TU climbing gym–known on campus
as the Peregrine’s Nest–is a series of 33-foot,
simulated rock faces located in Burdick Hall.
TU is TOPs
The university gets high marks from three
national publications
“I quickly learned that
climbing is all about
technique, more brains
and balance than
brute and brawn.”
—Dan Fox
n The U.S. News and World Report 2011
America’s Best Colleges guide ranks
Towson University tenth in the public
Regional Universities (North) category,
placing it among the best of the 46
institutions surveyed.
n Towson is one of 100 “Best College
Buys” in America, according to a website
feature released by Forbes, publisher of
a national bi-weekly magazine and other
business media.
n TU is also one of 218 institutions The
Princeton Review recommends in the
“Best in the Northeast” section of its
recently posted website feature, “2011
Best Colleges: Region by Region.” it also
features Towson in its book, The Best
Northeastern Colleges: 2011 Edition.
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