Climbing has always been about problem-solving, and for Melissa Ruiz, it’s also a sport that reflects her determination. She began climbing in 2018 and started competing in paraclimbing that same year. This September, Melissa competed at the IFSC Para Climbing World Championships in Seoul, where she dominated the RP1 category and took home her first gold medal.
We sat down with Melissa to talk about her journey to the top, how she approaches problem-solving on the wall, and the next big goal she’s set her sights on.
Q&A with Melissa
How did you get into climbing?
I started climbing back in 2018. That’s also the year I started competing. I chose climbing because I really wanted to do some sort of physical activity that works my whole body. Most sports are either leg heavy with no way to modify or wheelchair sports, which I can’t do because I don’t use a wheelchair. I had remembered that I’d tried climbing a long time ago at a local fair at some point, and that it sort of worked, so I looked up climbing in NYC and found Movement LIC. I’ve been climbing there (and at various other gyms) ever since.
What is something you wish the climbing community knew about paraclimbing?
We have a lot of fun, we train hard, and we know our limits. We push our limits in order to get stronger, but it’s never in a way that would get us hurt. We just want to be treated as part of the community like everyone else. We’re not afraid of jokes, light teasing, and being pushed hard by people in the community.
And there’s so much we can teach people! We have to adapt the way we climb all the time, and sometimes it’s very similar to how climbing would work for people with injuries. Broke a leg or tore an ACL? Watch and talk to our leg amputee climbers to get some tips. Hurt a shoulder or got a hand/arm injury? Watch and talk to an arm amputee. Need help dealing with obstacles that aren’t caused by an injury? Talk to anyone in our community and we’ll happily give advice.
How do you approach routefinding and problem-solving on the wall?
As someone with a neurological disability that affects my legs, core, flexibility, and movement control, I have to find ways around common climbing moves and obstacles. Things like high steps, wide-legged moves, and overhangs are particularly hard for me, so I either find different beta entirely or find different ways to do the intended beta. As a result, I’m pretty good at reading routes both for me and people doing routes that I can’t physically climb.
The ability to change my route beta really comes in handy when I go to competitions. I still have yet to complete the severely overhung comp routes, but I get higher and higher each time. At the last competition in South Korea, I got the closest I’ve ever gotten to topping one of the qualifying routes. That happened because I learned how to do things like swing my legs back on and catch holds the first time, stop momentum mid-fall, campus, and pull through big movements. I ended up the highest on both qualifying routes, which secured my first place spot in finals.
Take us through how you were feeling at the World Championships in Seoul. What was the most challenging part of the competition?
Finals itself was interesting because my legs had gotten really really stiff, which made climbing harder than it usually is. When my legs fight me that much, I end up having to campus more, pull harder more often, and hold longer when I cut feet so I can campus through moves without throwing myself off. This causes me to get really pumped really fast. I still won the competition, but that was because I spent ages working on my raw arm strength so that stiff days don’t throw me off early and I don’t pump out too fast. I ended up slipping off of a sloper that I otherwise would’ve been fine on because I was too stiff to move over in time, but I had gotten the high point on that route and secured my spot as the current RP1 World Champion.
This means more to me than anyone can guess because I’ve been working on this for ages. At my first World Championship in 2019 I came in 12th place out of 19. At the next one in 2021, I came in 6th place. The one after that was in 2023, where I came in 2nd. This year, I finally managed to secure my first World Championship gold, and I couldn’t be happier about it!
What's next for you in your climbing career? Are there any upcoming competitions or outdoor projects your working on?
The next and last comp of the season is the World Cup in Laval, France. I’m hoping to top at least one of the comp routes while I’m there (and for another gold). After that I’ll be turning my attention back to outdoor climbing. Next May, I’m planning to lead up a route on El Cap. If I complete it, I’ll be the first person with Cerebral Palsy to lead up El Cap at all (everyone else jumared their way up). That, along with a route in Rumney called ‘Predator,’ are my dream projects.