Climbing To The Top — Korth Helps Clemson Team To Championship

By Andy Hutchison

Emily Korth has always loved climbing and, these days, the Newtowner is being recognized for her abilities at the collegiate level. Korth, who recently finished her sophomore year at Clemson University, in Clemson, S.C., helped the school’s climbing club win the Southeast Regional Division of the Collegiate Climbing Series for the second year in a row this spring. Korth also captured the individual championship in the women’s division.

“When I was younger I probably spent more time climbing trees than being on the ground — and that was just the beginning,” the 2009 Newtown High School graduate said.

Korth said her brother Alan first sparked her interest with climbing when he bought a rope and needed a belayer, someone to catch his falls with high climbs. When she came to Clemson as a freshman, Korth discovered that the campus fitness center had an indoor rock wall and a climbing club, formed in the spring of 2009. Korth hadn’t climbed much in Connecticut because of limited venues and she jumped on the opportunity to test her skills at Clemson.

It was not long before she was hooked and began competing with the team — and winning championships. Talk about climbing to the top.

“It was a great experience. I honestly didn’t expect to finish first,” she said.

The climbing team competes throughout the Southeast, primarily at other universities, such as University of Alabama (Birmingham and Tuscaloosa), University of South Carolina, and Georgia Southern University. Competitions are scored with a point system in which the top five scores are added up. Routes are worth a range of points based on difficulty. Climbers must complete multiple routes of varying difficulties on climbing walls.

As with any athletic activity, equipment is needed for climbing. And, yes, it’s more than just a rock. Equipment needed for bouldering, Korth said, are a crash pad, climbing shoes, and chalk. Bouldering is primarily done in climbing competitions because of the ease of needing very little gear, she added. Sport climbing, on the other hand, involves a specific kind of rope, harness, climbing shoes, chalk, slings, carabiners, webbing, quickdraws, another person to bely, and an ATC (belay device), which is used by the belayer.

While climbing styles may vary, the most popular in competition, and the one the Clemson team competes at is bouldering, which entails short, fast climbs performed without ropes or harnesses and is done indoors, Korth said.

Routes are created beforehand with holds that are screwed into the wall and are marked with specific colored tape to indicate which holds are on and off route. A point system indicates the difficulty of a climb, ranging generally from 80 to 2,000 points.

The competitions are broken up into beginner, intermediate, and advanced based on the amount of points scored by the climbers. A climber is usually rewarded a standard ten points higher per climb that is flashed/onsighted (meaning that the competitor climbs the specific route without touching the ground, without touching unmarked holds or holds that are off route, or without receiving help from anyone else, Korth said). Climbers are given anywhere from two to three hours to obtain as many points as possible, she added.

Korth does her outdoor climbing for fun — and the feeling she gets from challenging herself in an activity that has become a passion.

“The best part of climbing for me is the rush from rope climbing outside. There’s nothing that matches that moment of fear where all you can think about is how exhausted you are and start worrying about falling but, miraculously, you find the strength to hang on and finish the route. To me, nothing is better than surprising yourself when you least expect it,” Korth said.

The best time to do sport climbing, which involves 50- to 100-foot climbs, is in the late fall and early spring because the weather conditions are best then, Korth said. Climbing that does not use gear and usually only involves the climber going 10 to 20 feet has a smaller time span because weather is more influential and affects the quality of the rock, she added. There is one competition in the fall and then the main competition season begins after winter break and continues into the spring.

Korth says the toughest part about competitive climbing is getting stuck in a rut — not literally, however — as she goes for tougher climbs.

Athletes always put themselves at risk of injury no matter what the competition may be. Climbing certainly is no exception. Korth says practice time is crucial for climbers to keep sharp and avoid injuries when competing. Injuries usually include dislocations, torn muscles and tendons within the fingers and wrists, and tendonitis, she said. The time spent training for a competition generally varies from climber to climber but Korth will climb for eight to ten hours the week before/of a competition to give her body enough time to rest beforehand.

Korth’s athletic background may have helped prepare her for a successful climbing career. After all, she was a gymnast for eight years. What’s more, at Newtown High, Korth competed in track and field’s closest equivalent to climbing — testing her ability to reach higher points in the pole vault event. She also long jumped, high jumped and occasionally participated in running events.

To become more involved in the coming school year, Korth has taken on position as secretary of the climbing club. She is studying visual arts with an emphasis in ceramics. In her free time, Korth enjoys the South Carolina weather and scenery kayaking, biking, and hiking.

During the summer, Korth works at the school’s climbing wall, doing everything from setting up climbers with necessary equipment to teaching them what they need to know to make their way up the wall.