Palmer’s climbing team is in the midst of their eleventh competition season, on February 17th they’re headed to regionals and then state a few weeks later. 

The climbing club at Palmer was started fifteen years ago by freshman at the time Emma Howard. It began because students at Palmer wanted to be able to climb at City Rock, so they convinced Mr. Joiner, a math teacher and previously strictly only outdoor climber, to be their sponsor. 

After being around for four years, the first rock climbing competition in Colorado took place and Palmer won second. Ever since then Palmer has been doing amazing at every single competition. Especially this season. They have competed in 6 competitions this season and girls have placed second all but once and boys have placed second all but once when they won first!

The team is full of many incredibly strong climbers including its team captains Salome Lloyd and Sadie Cipiti. They have both been climbing since they were young children and have been a part of the climbing club since their sophomore year since it wasn’t available their freshman year due to covid. Although this is only Salome’s second year competing, she has done amazing this season, placing second in almost every competition. 

But the Palmer Climbing club isn’t all about competing, in fact, only fifteen of its around 40 members actually go to comps. The rest just show up to the climbing club when it meets every Monday and Wednesday. The great thing  about the climbing club is its flexibility. Its meets year round and there is no penalty for not showing up, which means people can come when it works for them but it doesn’t get in the way of school, work, and it’s a great sport to do alongside other sports especially during the off season to stay in shape.