Testing a program that allows disabled to rock climb

A small, blond 6-year-old girl with two missing front teeth looked down from the top of a rock wall at Bliss Bouldering & Climbing Complex on Tuesday afternoon, grinning at the people below.

The girl, Alexis Warren, lost her right foot in a lawn mower accident in July.

Nearly a year later, sporting a knee-high floral-patterned prosthesis, Alexis went rock climbing for the first time.

Bliss, the largest indoor rock climbing facility in the state, held a trial run Tuesday for a new adaptive climbing program it hopes to start in August.

Adaptive climbing is a type of modified rock climbing that allows individuals with physical or other disabilities to participate in the sport.

Josiah Kortje, Bliss’ marketing director, said the gym first heard about the program a year ago.

The gym teamed up with Paradox Sports, an adaptive sports company that provides training across the country to organizations that want to offer adaptive sports programs.

For rock climbing, this can involve a regular belay system for climbers with prosthetics to a full-harness pulley system for partially paralyzed climbers.

Before launching the program, Kortje said, the gym had raised more than $3,000 for equipment and training.

“It was a little more than we could afford at the time,” he said. “So, what we did is we started using different raffles and activities and different ways to make money for it.”

Bliss held specialized events and competitions and sold adaptive climbing wristbands through community businesses to reach its fundraising goal.

It also partnered with Peeples Prosthetics, a local orthotics and prosthetics company. Steve Peeples, the owner, helped with donations and finding interested climbers, Kortje said.

“It’s one of those things that’s priceless,” Peeples said. “I mean, any time we can get out and do regular things with the kids and the adults and give them something that they may have not thought about doing or that they might be really good at, it’s cool.”

Richard Smith, 43, was one of Peeples’ clients who tried out the new program.

“It’s a good tool for trying to get your hand-eye coordination back and to build my muscle up,” Smith said.

Smith, who worked in construction, lost his left leg in a forklift accident in January. He said the transition to a prosthesis has been difficult, but it hasn’t stopped him from trying new things.

Tuesday was the first time Smith had rock climbed in his life, he said.

“This right here just lets me know that I’m still able to do something,” he said.

Kortje said the gym is planning another test for the program in July. Each trial session is free for disabled climbers, he said, since Bliss employees are still trying to familiarize themselves with the program.

Bliss wants to start an adaptive climbing club, Kortje said, that would offer climbing sessions once or twice a month.

Alexis, who will start first grade this fall, said she definitely wants to climb again. Her mother, Dawn Warren, and stepmother, Charlene Warren, said they weren’t surprised.

“She’s pretty active,” Charlene Warren said.

“She rides a bike, runs, plays, everything,” Dawn Warren said. “Nothing stops her.”

This story was originally published June 21, 2017 at 7:08 AM with the headline "Testing a program that allows disabled to rock climb."