ALMO, Idaho — Justin Lofthouse feels fear every time he climbs rocks.
“That’s part of climbing — that you are pushing yourself,” he said.
Lofthouse is a natural resource interpreter at City of Rocks National Reserve near the Idaho-Utah border. One of his tasks is introducing park visitors to his sport through the Climbing Experience Program.
Guests 10 and older climb rock walls 30-40 feet high with help from a park staff member who operates a rope system for safety (called top roping).
“The idea is we truly give them a taste of the experience,” said Wallace Keck, the park superintendent at City of Rocks. “No one leaves our program ready to be a climber.” Rock climbing is the top activity at City of Rocks, listed by about half of visitors as the primary draw.
The Climbing Experience Program is designed for the other half — the people attracted to the park by the unique landscape, hiking trails, biking possibilities and wildlife but perhaps intrigued by the daring climbers.
The program was started almost a decade ago and has become so popular that it nearly requires its own staff, Keck said. The usual clients are families who may have a little experience on artificial climbing walls. The cost is $37.50 for adults and $20 for youths (10-17) accompanied by a paid adult.
“In most cases,” Keck said, “it’s as much or more as most people want to do when they realize, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m 10 feet off the ground.’ … (Routes) can be everything from ‘a little kid can easily scramble up’ to ‘this is challenging — I might not make it.’ But you’re safe. We can lower you right back down when you’re ready to quit.” I went through the Climbing Experience Program last week with my son, Oliver, and watched as Lofthouse expertly talked my young child through the fears associated with climbing.
We climbed the Five Cracks rock — a spot often used for the program because it has four routes with permanent rope anchors, is about 40 feet tall and has consistent access to footholds. I was able to climb and descend the wall fairly easily, except for a couple spots where the footing was tricky.
Oliver climbed it twice but froze when it was time to descend.
“Some kids, it doesn’t scare them — but it’s always lowering that scares them,” Lofthouse said. “Climbing up, they have no problem.” He uses his own experience to help customers overcome their fears. He let Oliver know that the climber is in charge — he didn’t have to go down until he was ready. He asked him to relax, look around and trust that he was safe. He could have lowered Oliver to the ground at any time to speed things along but knew that would have left a bad impression in the youngster’s mind.
“I have empathy for him because I’ve experienced it,” Lofthouse said. “If I tell him to just sit there and look around and calm down, that’s exactly what I do. If I went climbing today, which I probably will, I will get nervous and I will have to use those exact techniques.” Oliver said he “knew from the experience of climbing rock walls how to find spots to put your feet” while going up. But he didn’t like the sensation of going down, even though Lofthouse controlled the rope so that it was basically a slow backpedal down the rock face.
“It just felt like there was nothing between you and the ground, nothing to support you but yourself,” Oliver said. “The person who was helping us was the only reason I made it back down.” Lofthouse has been helping people climb for years. He introduced his wife, Sarah, to the sport. He got his family involved. He likes to show kids how to climb. Sarah also works at City of Rocks and helps with the Climbing Experience Program.
“The ideology of my wife and I is you can talk someone through it,” Lofthouse said, “and if it takes more work, it takes more work — that’s part of the climbing experience for us. (I need) trust in themselves and trust in me. And just a willingness to push themselves. That’s the biggest thing.”
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