Adaptive Rock Climbing Clinic at Joshua Tree

An adaptive climber on the rock. NPS/Anna Cirimele.

From November 11 to 13, 2022, Joshua Tree National Park hosted an adaptive rock climbing clinic. Adaptive climbing uses specialised techniques and equipment to make rock climbing accessible to people with disabilities.

"Honour the disability, focus on the ability"

The clinic's instructor, climber Rand Abbott, describes his approach as recognising a person's disability and then concentrating on what they can do and how that applies to climbing. Wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby are open to wheelchair users, he points out, but players stay in their chairs; climbing gets them out.

An injury can change a person's ability to move for the rest of their life in an instant, without warning, he says — and the world does not stop and wait. Many people then struggle with pain, anger and depression. Climbing gives them an outlet, and a way to rebuild self-esteem by achieving something worthwhile; it gives participants motivation and drive.

Rand Abbott coaching an adaptive climber. NPS/Bill Bjornstad.

His own first climb

For Abbott, climbing was the transition between life before and after his injury. On his first lead climb at Joshua Tree he got about 45 feet up, worn out from the pull-ups. Looking down, he saw his empty wheelchair on the ground and began to cry: for the first time since September 22, 2008, he felt free — the chair was down there and he did not need it.

Breaking down barriers

Abbott has worked with more than 100 adaptive climbers, including blind climbers, amputees and disabled veterans. He aims to break down barriers to rock climbing and the stigmas within the climbing community, and hopes to keep helping adaptive climbers discover the joy of the sport.

Sources

• National Park Service, Joshua Tree National Park, Adaptive Rock Climbing Clinic — Rand Abbott's words paraphrased; rewritten in hubnx's own words.