Andrew first got into climbing after hearing about a local adaptive meetup—and was instantly all in. What began as weekly sessions quickly turned into a passion, leading to his first-place finish at Paraclimbing Nationals this past March. In this Q&A, he talks about finding community through the sport and where he hopes climbing will take him next.
Can you tell us about your background and how you got into climbing?
I started climbing about 2 1/2 years ago after attending an event for the adaptive sport of Goalball, hosted by BORP. When I was at the event, another paraclimber mentioned a weekly meetup of adaptive climbers and I was super interested, as I have always loved climbing but wasn’t sure if I could participate with my visual impairment. I showed up and got super hooked. I went to the Friday meetups almost every week for about 2 months until I finally got my membership and started going as often as possible.
When did you realize you wanted to pursue climbing competitively?
I’ve always been very competitive, so when I found out there was an avenue to compete with other people who were also disabled, I was stoked. After attending my first nationals in Maryland last year, I was hooked and knew I wanted to keep competing as often as possible.
How do you approach mental training and preparation for competitions?
My training before events primarily focuses on trying to boost my endurance. I like to boulder a lot and would say my endurance is a weak point of mine. So typically, before competitions, I scramble to pick up last-minute endurance gains. As far as mental preparation, I would say I haven’t quite figured out what works for me. I do get less nervous before climbing at comps now, but climb more scared than I should.
Where do you see the sport of climbing heading in the next decade, and how do you see yourself fitting into that future?
Paraclimbing seems to keep growing year after year. I think many disabled people don’t know how accessible climbing can be, and as the sport grows, we’re working on getting more of these people into the community. Paraclimbing was also added to the 2028 Paralympics, so hopefully that adds to more disabled people coming out and trying climbing. I’d love to compete at the Paralympics, especially considering how close they will be.
