Manitobans scaling the heights

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This article was published 18/04/2023 (1255 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Climbers have long existed outside the mainstream of sports in Manitoba but the sport’s brightest young members are hoping to reach unprecedented heights this week.

Eighteen athletes will scale the rocky walls at the Youth Bouldering Regional (west) competition in Surrey, B.C., on Saturday and Sunday. Climbing Manitoba has never sent more than eight climbers to a meet outside the province.

Male and female climbers aged 12-19 from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C. will compete in four categories, with top climbers qualifying for the nationals in Calgary in May.

“I’m feeling good. I’m very happy to have this opportunity,” said Ambrosia Parnes, one of the most experienced youth climbers at The Hive Winnipeg facility. “I’m very happy that we’re sending people out to these competitions, so I’m glad I can go and I’m excited. I just want to continue my climbing career so this is a good thing for me.”

Parnes, 17, has climbed for as long as she can remember, noting she tried other sports but has always found her way back to the wall because of its supportive community.

This weekend, Parnes will compete in the junior women’s category. It’s her first time at regionals, although she participated at last year’s nationals. The 2021 and ‘21 regional meets were cancelled owing to the pandemic.

“I don’t like to put too much pressure on myself for any sort of competition. I want to have fun, number one, I want to try out some climbs and I just think I want to have a good time. If I do set a goal, I think it’s going to be just to do the best I can and just make Manitoba proud,” Parnes said.

The young climbers have endured an extensive training cycle that dates back to September. Their first local competition came in November, followed by a brief resting period before re-building for a sanctioned provincial competition in February and another local competition in March. The latter meets were crucial, as both were worth points toward each climber’s provincial rankings.

Since March, the athletes have been focused on regionals.

Theo Enns remembers his qualifying competition like it was yesterday.

“Super psyched. It was amazing,” the 15-year-old said. “There were two parts of a competition and after I had (done well) on the first one, I knew the next one was going to be easier. After that, I was just amazed. I probably jumped up and down or something and I was just smiles the rest of the day. I was hyped up on it for a good week afterwards.”

Enns, who has been climbing for just two years, will try to scale the men’s youth A category this weekend, in what will be the first time he’s travelled outside the province for sports.

“I’m definitely trying to stay in the moment, keep a positive attitude going on. It’s going to be great either way, whether I do well or not so good. I’m just super excited for the experience, going to Surrey and everything,” he said. “I’m not sure how it’s going to go, but either way, I think it’s going to be super fun and I’ll learn a lot from it.”

Enns echoes what head coach Owen Westmore has been preaching to his group since he began training them in December, and what he hopes the focus of the upcoming meet will be.

“I almost never talk about winning, especially because climbing is an individual sport,” Westmore said. “So they train as a team, they’re all friends, but at a competition, they can’t win together. But by each of them on their own doing their best and together, being supportive toward each other, some or all of them doing well (means) everybody’s happy.

“A lot of it is around progression more than performance, especially for some of them who have been injured. Climbing is pretty hard on your body. Really focusing on, ‘This is where you are, this is what you need to do,’ and less, ‘This is where you need to be, do whatever you can to get there.’”

Westmore said he’s watched the sport grow substantially in recent years. Though Climbing Manitoba is still relatively new, forming in 2020, it’s now recognized by Climbing Canada, which means the province will receive higher quotas for the number of athletes it can send to regional and national meets.

“It’s just an exciting time for all these kids and for myself because climbing is becoming very visible and something that’s possible to do on a larger scale,” he said.

“Just seeing the sport grow, especially among young people, is great because that just means it’s gonna keep getting bigger and we’re going to see more and more people getting into it and more people excelling.”

jfreysam@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jfreysam