By Elizabeth Goldman
Sports Editor
Costa Climbers is a club for students who are interested in rock climbing to get together to climb. Junior Chase Savela founded the club his freshman year, but the COVID-19 pandemic put it on hold. The club resumed at the beginning of the 2021-22 school year.
The club meets at lunch in room 45 every other Friday. Savela has been rock climbing for four years and founded the club when he realized that there weren’t any rock climbing groups on campus. He has since accumulated between 25 and 30 members.
“Climbing Club is where we get people together to talk about rock climbing, get people interested in it, and then plan some meet-ups at least once a month,” Savela said. “We go to different rock climbing gyms or rock climbing areas to try it out and see how people like it.”
So far, the club has been climbing at Sender One LAX, a climbing gym in Los Angeles. But, in the future, they are looking to climb at outdoor areas such as Stony Point or Malibu Creek.
“I have been climbing for over two years, and I love it,” Costa Climbers vice president junior Ethan Crowley said. “The rock climbing community is one of the nicest communities I’ve ever been in. Introducing people to climbing and bringing experienced climbers together has been an amazing experience.”
Outside of the club, Savela is on a youth competition team that practices three times a week to train for competitions as well as larger events such as regionals, divisionals or nationals. Additionally, Savela coaches kids at Sender One LAX.
“I love guiding [kids] and observing their own problem-solving processes,” Savela said. “It always makes me super psyched to watch one of my kids complete a challenging climb that they’ve been working on.”
According to Savela, climbing can be a fun way to relieve stress and release energy, and he recommends it to everyone. Learning how to breathe and relax in a high-stress situation is an important skill in both rock climbing and life, according to Savela.
“The hardest part about rock climbing is the complete body awareness that is necessary,” Savela said. “Fear can also be a pretty big thing, [but] I try to focus on relaxation while climbing, [which] can make a world’s difference.”
Savela’s hope for the future of the club is to continue having fun with his friends, gaining new members and getting enough people interested in climbing so that the club will continue in the future, according to Savela.
“My favorite part about climbing is how challenging it is,” Savela said. “It’s different for everybody, and everyone has different strong suits. We all have a different way to solve [each rock climbing] problem.”
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