The Fieldhouse was busy this past Sunday with climbers of all ages looking to scale the big wall.
The Yellowknife Climbing Club hosted a competition in conjunction with the city. It was designed to promote the popularity of climbing in the city in a friendly way with the city providing the equipment and the club giving its expertise.
There were three categories divided by age groups: youth from ages four to nine, youth from 10 to 14 and 15 and up for the older folks.
“Climbing is a newer as far as the popularity goes and people are kind of getting into it now,” said Brad Cremasco, the climbing club’s vice-president. “Yellowknife is great area for climbing with tons of bouldering that is kind of unknown, so we wanted to increase the knowledge of the sport to get more people involved.”
Safety was a big part of the event, said Cremasco, with not only soft mats to provide a bit of cushioning if climbers fell, but also those trained in First Aid should there be the need to administer it.
The event happened this year with the Grade 4-5 Super Soccer tournament running simultaneously on the sport turf and it provided a chance to get more people involved, said Cremasco.
“It would be a great opportunity for the club to not only showcasing the sport, but also to draw more attention for the club and helping the club to gain more potential members,” he said.
The venue shut down the day before so roganizers could set up 32 different routes for the climbers.
“It was quite a bit of work, we spent 10 hours with seven of us to doing that,” said Cremasco.
Adrienne Francis won the youth 4-9 category, while Leah Wood won the 10-14 youth group and Camille Théocharidès-Auger won the older category.
There was also an open adult open group for those who wanted a challenge. Eric Cadieux was the overall winner in that category.
