{"id":37746,"date":"2022-10-20T14:11:56","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T20:11:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-climbers-who-summit-buildings-instead-of-mountains\/"},"modified":"2022-10-20T20:11:56","modified_gmt":"2022-10-20T20:11:56","slug":"colorado-climbers-who-summit-buildings-instead-of-mountains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-climbers-who-summit-buildings-instead-of-mountains\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado climbers who summit buildings instead of mountains"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=ad9d58f6-c75a-5b7d-b53a-3db0791b1632&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" alt=\"Colorado College student Noah Kane uses the crack climbing technique with a building on campus Sept. 15 in Colorado Springs. Buildering is a term used for climbing on building structures rather than on natural elements, such as rocks and mountains. (Hugh Carey\/The Colorado Sun)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Colorado College student Noah Kane uses the crack climbing technique with a building on campus Sept. 15 in Colorado Springs. Buildering is a term used for climbing on building structures rather than on natural elements, such as rocks and mountains. (Hugh Carey\/The Colorado Sun)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>In the spring of 2018, a University of Colorado graduate decided to climb up the north face of the Macky Auditorium, a building he had worked in for over a year. Drew Herder would leave work at 2 or 3 a.m. and gaze longingly at the face, hoping one day to climb the stacked redstone facade overlooking Boulder.<\/p>\n<p>After months of scoping, Herder discovered what he considered a relatively easy route up through a boulder problem \u2013 a short series of climbing moves \u2013 to a link-up of ladders leading to the roof.<\/p>\n<p>Things were going smoothly the night Herder scaled Macky. Just past the halfway mark he noticed he was in the center of a literal and figurative spotlight. A crew of university police officers were at the base of the building, commanding him to come down. Any other night, their escapade might have gone undetected, but there was a performance of \u201cSweeney Todd\u201d going on inside.<\/p>\n<p>At that point, Herder thought it would be easier for him and his belayer to finish the climb and wait for police at the top of the historic building. Authorities escorted Herder and his friend down through the rafters unseen by performers and attendees, but able to view the show from a unique angle before facing trespassing charges.<\/p>\n<p>This type of urban climbing, called buildering, is an illicit activity with a rich history in Colorado, especially on college campuses, dating back to the mid-1900s. Many of the state\u2019s climbing guides and professional athletes have stories to tell of how late-night ascents on their campuses, or of climbs up buildings and public art in downtown Boulder and Denver, were a formative aspect of their passion or careers.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image naviga-align-left alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=8292fda3-6885-54f7-ba52-8911a6c3c322&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\" alt=\"Tyler Rizzuto climbs the 85-foot Articulated Wall in Denver. The artwork in Broadway Park was Herbert Bayer\u2019s final project before his death in 1985. (Will McKay\/Special to The Colorado Sun)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Tyler Rizzuto climbs the 85-foot Articulated Wall in Denver. The artwork in Broadway Park was Herbert Bayer\u2019s final project before his death in 1985. (Will McKay\/Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>For some, the sandstone blocks and slippery limestone edifices were their first taste of indulging the primate\u2019s desire to climb. But buildering is not just about college kids scrambling over their classroom buildings and dining halls, or for the simple thrill of scaling one\u2019s freshman dorm.<\/p>\n<p>Urban climbing exists wherever there are buildings to tempt a climber. Timmy O\u2019Neill, a professional climber with first ascents in South America\u2019s Patagonia and a speed ascent of The Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite, has climbed a vast swath of buildings in the Denver area \u2013 earning the title \u201cUrban Ape\u201d in the description of a 2003 film he starred in called \u201cFront Range Freaks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Neill points out the inherent human desire, or even need, to climb. \u201cThat\u2019s why every little baby is called a climber,\u201d he said. But he views urban climbing as a much different activity from rock climbing, indoors or outdoors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re so different. One is sanctioned, certified, you know, there\u2019s a payment required to do it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have to sign a waiver. The other one is the absence of all of that, right?\u201d he said. \u201cA climbing gym isn\u2019t going to solve somebody wanting to have an experience that\u2019s totally outside of convention.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This attitude, predating climbing gyms, continues to flourish even as training facilities for climbers have become commonplace, especially in climber hubs like Boulder which has at least five gyms within biking distance of CU. Having access to climbing gyms didn\u2019t stop Herder and his ilk from wanting a taste of something more avant-garde during their student years and beyond.<\/p>\n<p>Fresh from probation after his Macky ascent, Herder climbed a perfect, parallel crack in the stone of the Boulder County Justice Center. The route would be dubbed \u201cJustice Served.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fellow CU graduate Josh Weinstein documented the moment on film \u2013 one of many shots to go into a short film the two made for ROAM Media on buildering.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video wp-block-embed-youtube naviga-video-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rFtiJifvOuo\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Footage used in \u201cReal Rock: An Urban Climbing Experience,\u201d was primarily gathered post-graduation and follows Weinstein and Herder pushing the limits of their buildering skills to objectives such as \u201cArticulated Wall\u201d \u2013 the 85-foot Herbert Bayer sculpture that looks like a stack of bright yellow french fries towering over Interstate 25 south of downtown Denver \u2013 or traveling to Tucson to put up urban routes in the city and on the University of Arizona campus. The routes they posted were later deleted by a local admin of Mountain Project, a website dedicated to offering information on climbing routes across the world.<\/p>\n<p>Will Gadd, a professional alpinist and guide, spent his years at Colorado College in the 1990s scaling buildings on the campus and said that attitude of seeking something outside of the acceptable might be precisely why buildering flourishes in those locations.<\/p>\n<p>Buildering, Gadd said, is \u201ca little bit punk,\u201d in line with the rebellious nature of youths.<\/p>\n<p>The soft sandstone used to construct buildings at CC and on university campuses all over Colorado was perfect for developing good skills, he said, and the rock type remains among his favorites to climb today. Well, that and buildings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never walk by a building today without wondering if I can climb it,\u201d Gadd said.<\/p>\n<p>Gadd is not alone in using the sandstone to train in the last decades of the 2000s. Long before Herder\u2019s ill-fated quest up the auditorium, CU was a stomping ground for builderers.<\/p>\n<p>So many people ascended buildings on the Boulder campus that the administration actually \u201cdesignated\u201d or rather decriminalized buildering on the Engineering Center, said Greg Johnson, a 1990 CU graduate who is now an associate professor and chair of the university\u2019s religious studies department.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey would (still) chase you away and whatnot,\u201d he said. But even the off-limits buildings, which are everything but the Engineering Center, were often scaled. \u201cSome lines were just too good to ignore.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of course, the CU official school policies prohibit the activity and the CU Police Department\u2019s position is that attempting to scale or climb buildings is dangerous. \u201cPlease don\u2019t attempt it,\u201d spokeswoman Christine Mahoney said.<\/p>\n<p>Buildering was a bigger deal back when Johnson was an undergrad. Indoor climbing gyms had not yet entered the scene, making the readily accessible campus buildings the best option for training, with the added bonus of shelter during rain, said Johnson, who went on to builder at the University of Chicago campus while attending graduate school.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cClimber has got to climb, and if the building is right there, gotta climb it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=474c2c8a-89bc-5211-b1de-4d6a286cca77&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"750\" height=\"498\" alt=\"The Engineering Center at the University of Colorado. (University of Colorado photo)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">The Engineering Center at the University of Colorado. (University of Colorado photo)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>And it is not just CC and CU where buildering has taken off \u2013 it can be found on college campuses all over Colorado.<\/p>\n<p>There are four routes listed on a Mountain Project climbing page for Fort Lewis College in Durango; six on the Western State Colorado University, \u201cgood for late night fun\u201d; 38 at Colorado State University in Fort Collins; 13 at the University of Denver; and surely more hidden under nicknames and pseudonyms.<\/p>\n<div class=\"naviga-element naviga-subheadline1\">\u2018We just started romping up buildings\u2019<\/div>\n<p>Colorado College alumnus Soren Kodak said he grew up climbing buildings before ever getting into the sport of climbing itself. The habit began during a parkour phase. Within Kodak\u2019s first month of college, he\u2019d tracked down the Mountain Project page as he was trying to get into rock climbing and wanted to find routes close to campus. They were much closer than he imagined.<\/p>\n<p>But Kodak was sneakier with his buildering than others \u2013 as a student on scholarship and a residential adviser, he knew the consequences of getting caught were high. Just not high enough to stop him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Fireside Traverse\u201d in Mathias Hall, first ascent by Kodak, became a regular of his when he worked desk duty in the dorm since, for the most part, he was the highest authority in the building during those times. Otherwise, this route may have been near impossible for its placement directly in the middle of the lobby. The route, Kodak said, \u201cisn\u2019t worth climbing\u201d but was funny to put up because it was very \u201cmischievous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even people who had plenty of experience climbing before attending college find themselves drawn to the unauthorized activity. Grant Perdue got his start in buildering while attending CU but had been climbing since the start of high school in Tennessee.<\/p>\n<p>Wanting to spend \u201ca lifetime\u201d climbing was a big factor in Perdue\u2019s decision to come out West. He graduated from CU in 2021 and now works as an ambassador for the Swiss outdoor gear maker Mammut and guide for Mountain Trip in Telluride.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll of these guys were kind of rumbling about this thing called buildering: the urban climbing experience,\u201d Perdue said. \u201cSo we all kind of started doing it around CU\u2019s campus in between classes and that sort of stuff. You kind of have your climbing shoes, and your backpack and a chalk bag and we just started romping up buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When asked about \u201cthe point\u201d of buildering when there\u2019s a plethora of gyms and even real rock nearby the Boulder campus, he said, \u201cIt\u2019s one of those funny things, you know. It\u2019s similar to climbing. There\u2019s really no point to it other than having a passion and bringing you joy. \u2026 It is its own beautiful thing that can be a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"naviga-element naviga-subheadline1\">Some buildings are just begging to be climbed<\/div>\n<p>Though it is an entirely different beast than gym or rock climbing, buildering continues the tradition of the climbing community not taking itself too seriously, particularly in the naming of routes. Buildering on college campuses is even able to take the tongue-in-cheek humor further by playing up the dubious legality of the activity in the beta, which is climber lingo for useful hints or relevant information.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, the Colorado College \u201carea\u201d page on Mountain Project cites access issues as \u201cquestionable legality.\u201d The description section pokes fun at the college\u2019s culture, \u201cnavigate carefully through the hippies and day drinkers to find these lines.\u201d And in lieu of physical directions, the writers of the page advise getting good grades in high school.<\/p>\n<p>The actual descriptions of the routes range from beta one might find on any route and potential physical safety concerns, like a long fall, to the threat of RAs on duty if one is attempting \u201cThe Fireside Traverse\u201d inside one of the dorms.<\/p>\n<p>For protection, some routes recommend a bouldering pad or other safety equipment to prevent long falls, like cams or nuts on the serious side to \u201cconsult Weber liquor (Weber Street Liquor near campus) for conditions and a proper CC rack (the selection of gear needed to safely complete a climb)\u201d and \u201cif you get scared, you can ask your mom to come.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The protection and advice sections, however, are a little vague when it comes to avoiding getting caught \u2013 besides going at night. But even the cover of the night didn\u2019t help Colorado College sophomore Liam Dietrich when he climbed a dorm last Halloween.<\/p>\n<p>Dietrich said he might have gotten away with it had the campus not been crawling with safety officers. He also made the error of immediately swiping into his dorm after being caught on camera and was confronted by safety officers waiting for him to make just that mistake. His climbing partner that night was also caught. Dietrich described the punishments they received as creative, including writing a three-page essay on peer pressure and making a short film interviewing a campus safety officer.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=2a72723e-4476-5106-bc6c-e4aa9aae5603&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" alt=\"Colorado College student Noah Kane was scolded by a residential life coordinator while being photographed for this story climbing barely 10 feet off the ground. (Hugh Carey\/The Colorado Sun)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Colorado College student Noah Kane was scolded by a residential life coordinator while being photographed for this story climbing barely 10 feet off the ground. (Hugh Carey\/The Colorado Sun)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>This wasn\u2019t particularly dissuading for Dietrich who said he will focus urban climbing efforts off campus now, though he does plan to buildering on campus right before or after graduation. He has also recently purchased a grappling hook to aid in his endeavors.<\/p>\n<p>Getting away with buildering on campus seems to largely be an issue of luck. CC senior and \u201cclimbing influencer\u201d Noah Kane spent an entire night not only buildering at CC but also filming the climbs and later posting the evidence to the internet, thus far without consequence. \u201cAll the power to them,\u201d Dietrich said of those who have not gotten caught.<\/p>\n<p>Kane said he learned about the legacy of buildering almost as soon as he arrived on campus from his home in Vermont, but wasn\u2019t particularly tempted until encountering a crack on the side of his sophomore dorm that \u201cbegged\u201d to be climbed.<\/p>\n<p>Then in May, Kane and a few friends set out to climb as many routes as possible on campus, recording footage to later be condensed into a TikTok captioned \u201cRampage.\u201d Even though Kane and company were fully aware of the Mountain Project, and a rumor that all CC buildering must be done naked, they decided to ignore any instructions or advice from the webpage and simply climb what called to them.<\/p>\n<p>Kane was not particularly worried about his video reaching hundreds of thousands of people \u2013 his follower count was over 400,000 at the time of posting with some videos receiving millions of views.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI highly doubt that anyone on the internet will go and call the college after watching that video,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Kane was, however, scolded by a residential life coordinator while being photographed for this story climbing barely 10 feet off the ground.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople just see it and they\u2019re like, \u2018This is something not normal\u2019 and don\u2019t know how to react,\u201d Herder said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/coloradosun.com\/\" id=\"link-6fc4565337bcde49af9716079142625d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em id=\"emphasis-278da40e9324d4b2779493879b42d8a5\">The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>climbing, called buildering, has a rich history, especially on college campuses, dating back to the mid-1900s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[2748,233,28,976],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-37746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-climbing","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-headlines","tag-outdoor-recreation"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37746"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=37746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}