UW Climbing Team Micro Study

UW Climbing Team Micro Study Photograph taken by Alexis Harper in 2017 Addison Simon HCDE 498 Qualitative Research Methods Fall Quarter 2017 The University of Washington

1 Introduction Over the past eleven weeks, I have immersed myself in the world of rock climbing. As a sport and as a hobby, rock climbing has many components, and through my research as a student enrolled in HCDE 498 Qualitative Research Methods at the University of Washington, I was able to observe some of those components and further understand what it means to participate in rock climbing and be a member of the UW Climbing Team. As a class, our main research question was How do hobbyists engage in their hobby?, however, as I dove deeper into my research, I found that my data supported a more refined research question involving the different experience levels and participation elements of members of the UW Climbing Team. As a result, this paper seeks to answer my research question of How does a rock climber s climbing experience change as their time involved with the UW Climbing Team increases?. For the sake of this paper, I am defining climbing experience to mean any and all of the physical, mental, social, or material aspects of engaging in rock climbing. This paper discusses the main logistics of my research including how I studied the UW Climbing Team, who I observed and interviewed, as well as where I conducted my research. Furthermore, this paper explains a few pieces of relevant literature that supported my growing understanding of rock climbing throughout my research. My findings, organized by theme and significance, are analyzed with supporting evidence from my three interviews with members of the UW Climbing team and my field observations. Finally, this paper will conclude with a summary of my approach and results, as well as recommendations for a potential future study. Literature As with many sports, the risk of injury depends on several factors such as experience level, equipment use, and time spent participating in the activity. The article Indoor rock climbing: who gets injured? from the British Journal of Sports Medicine sought to determine the frequency of rock climbing injuries as well as identify the common sites of such injuries (Wright, 2001). A questionnaire was used to survey almost 300 competitors and spectators at the Entre-Prises World Climbing Championships in 1999 and the survey asked questions to gauge whether a competitor had had an overuse injury, and if so, what sites had the injury occurred at? Ultimately, the results showed that 44% of respondents claimed to have had had an overuse injury in their climbing careers thus far and the most common site of injury was in fingers. The results also showed that having a climbing injury is more likely in men, those who have climbed for more than ten years, and those who climb harder routes. The article also compared results of indoor rock climbers to those that boulder, however, since I am only observing indoor rock climbing, those results were not particularly relevant to my study. After reading this article, I was intrigued to learn more about the situations in which rock climbers injure themselves, because if there are common factors, perhaps a change can be made to attempt to prevent at least a few injuries from happening. As a result, I became

2 interested in learning from the members of the UW Climbing Team how many participants each year injure themselves from indoor rock climbing and if these incidents were brought on more by individual slip-ups or other factors. In each of my three interviews, I incorporated at least one follow-up question regarding common injuries on the UW Climbing team, and as the article suggested, hand and finger injuries seemed to be the most common. Another article titled Emotions in Climbing: a Design Opportunity for Haptic Communication focused on the results from interviewing beginner climbers about how emotions are intertwined with their climbing experiences (Mencarini, 2015). The team looked to use technology to help manage the negative emotions that can accompany climbing for new rock climbers who have taken up the indoor version of the sport. Fear and stress are often common emotions for new rock climbers during their climbing experiences, and these emotions depend not only on the new climber themselves, but also on the rock walls and more experienced climbers around them. The team envisions augmented haptic communications between climbing partners to help manage these negative emotions and provide a sense of presence and simulated touch to climbers. After reading this article, I was inspired to investigate the emotions of new climbers on the UW Climbing Team as well as ways in which more experienced climbers seek to aid or support new climbers. I was also interested in how augmented haptic communication between climbing partners would translate to the possibly improved performances of new climbers and at what point this communication might be deemed unnecessary. For the sake of this study, however, I used the ideas present in this article to fuel follow-up interview questions regarding mental approaches or emotional states while climbing. Description of Research Site This section of the paper unpacks what it means to engage in rock climbing, who my participants were for this study, and what kind of environment I conducted my research in. Hobby Rock climbing as a sport and hobby involves more than just climbing rock. Especially rock climbing as a member of the UW Climbing Team, there are physical, mental, social and material aspects to it. Since answering my refined research question depended on all of these factors, I made sure through my field observations and interviews to gain information in each of these categories. Physically, rock climbing challenges your body in ways most sports do not. Climbers work to build muscles all the way from their fingers to their toes, and even the smallest slip up on a climb can result in a nasty fall and an injury that keeps a climber out for months. Mentally, rock climbing takes a lot strength too. Two out of my three interview participants mentioned the approach to climbing as puzzle solving, and being mentally stimulating as well as physically challenging (Interview #2 lines 38-40 and Interview #3 lines 25-30). While bouldering, climbers can almost memorize what movements their body will have to make to

3 reach the top, but while rope climbing, the movements become more technical and strategic since it s much harder to plan ahead that high up in the air. Aside from the climbing itself, the UW Climbing Team also has a very social element to it. From the experienced captains to the beginner members, everyone plays a role in supporting one another and offering help to those who need it. This paper discusses the social interaction between climbers as they receive and give instruction in the findings section. Rock climbing does not require as much equipment as some other sports, as often times indoor climbing gyms already provide the rock walls, mats, and ropes. Climbers are, however, still responsible for shoes, harnesses, chalk bags, and any helmets or extra rope needed for their particular type of climbing. Hobbyist Participants My participants for this study were members of the UW Climbing Team. I interviewed two captains of the team, as well as one beginner member. As a whole, the UW Climbing Team is very diverse with respect to climbing experience level, year in school, and major(s), however, one of the captains, Alexis Harper, told me that there are always more men than women on the team and at practices. My first interview participant was a junior, a captain of the team, and was a very experienced climber. He had almost seven years of climbing experience total, including both competitive and recreational climbing in high school and college. Although he had climbed pretty much every single face in the entire gym (Interview #1 line 305), he did not consider himself knowledgeable about climbing outdoors. My second participant was also a junior, but a beginner member of the UW Climbing Team having nearly no experience with rock climbing before joining the team towards the start of this school year. She had not done any outdoor climbing, competitions, or climbing at other gyms besides the Crags Climbing Center in the IMA. My third interviewee was a senior, another captain of the climbing team, and had about 2 years of climbing experience. She had the most outdoor climbing experience of the three and was also very familiar with other climbing gyms around the Seattle area. Location Although rock climbing can take place outdoors, indoors, and at many different types of climbing gyms, for the sake of this study I was focusing on rock climbing as a part of the UW Climbing Team. The UW Climbing Team practices are located in the Crags Climbing Center within the IMA, so this is where I conducted my three field observation sessions. The Crags Climbing Center, or The Crags for short, contains a bouldering wall section, a rope wall section, and also a rope wall section specifically for lead climbing, although lead climbing is more commonly found outdoors. For a sketch of the Crags Climbing Center layout please refer to Field Notes #1.

4 I conducted all three of my interviews in study rooms located in Alder Hall. This was a convenient location for both myself and my participants since it is on UW s West Campus and just a short walk from the main campus. The study rooms provided a quiet environment so that I could collect clear audio recordings of my interviews. This helped immensely further in my study when I went back and transcribed all three of my interviews that each lasted about 30 minutes. Findings Following my research question How does a rock climber s climbing experience change as their time involved with the UW Climbing Team increases?, I focused my findings on comparing the overall experience of my beginner participant with that of my two more experienced climber participants. That being said, the main themes I found significant time and time again through my field observations and then chose to further explore in my interviews were: instruction, logging projects, and the equipment or attire of climbers. In this section, these findings are broken down to reveal each participant s connection with the theme, as well as how each finding helped answer my overall research question. Giving & Receiving Instruction There are at least 2 out of the 4 captains of the UW Climbing Team at each practice, and these captains often provide instruction and help other climbers in approaching and navigating routes during practice. Although there are 2 male and 2 female captains on the UW Climbing Team, data from the Crags Climbing Center which I observed in Field Notes #1 lines 31-32 showed that the ratio of male to female climbers present at practice is much greater than that of climbing classes. This gender dynamic, however, doesn t seem to have much of an impact on the UW Climbing Team s overall dynamic, as I observed partners and groups of both men and women climbing together in all sections of the gym. It appeared too that climbers of either gender seemed comfortable receiving instruction from captains of any gender. On multiple occasions during practices, I observed this instruction taking place both in the form of verbally talking through an approach to a route, and also combining non-verbal communication such as physically demonstrating how to climb the route or visualizing an approach with hand gestures. It does not appear that one captain is observing boulderers while one is observing rope climbers, but rather that they go where they are needed or are even working together in a similar space most of practice. There are also other experienced climbers who, although not captains of the UW Climbing Team, still provide instruction on how to properly belay and use harnesses/ropes as well as approach or navigate routes during practice. In my second and third interviews, it was interesting to see how one of the captains of the UW Climbing Team viewed this help more as unwanted beta (Interview #2 line 213), while a beginner climber and new member to the team viewed this verbal instruction from other climbers more as them being really nice and sharing and yelling out tips to me (Interview #3 lines 248-249). As might be expected, it appears that as your time with the UW Climbing Team increases, members tend to give more instruction than they receive, and in turn, are more

5 critical of the advice they are given from other climbers who may not have as much experience as they do. Although climbing on rope routes requires using a harness and ropes, I observed that sometimes it is acceptable to demonstrate how to start a rope route while not wearing the proper equipment. Devin Ligman, one of the captains, often goes from the bouldering wall area to the rope climbing area and back, assisting both types of climbers. He does not take the time to put on a harness every time he wants to demonstrate an early part of the rope route, but rather demonstrates on the wall how to approach certain holds by physically climbing and talking watching climbers through each hold and move (Field Notes #1 lines 52-55). For holds that are higher than about 4-6 feet off the ground, Devin demonstrates how to approach the holds by just talking to the climbers and demonstrating how to approach the holds using hand gestures while remaining on the ground. In his interview with me, Devin explained how since he started at the Crags when he was a freshman until now, he has noticed that it s a lot more social and working with other people than it used to be for him (Interview #1 line 78). As his time with the Climbing Team has gone on, the sport has become less about individual improvement and internal focus for him, and more about supporting others and gaining a community of climbers. It is common practice for the captains to both physically demonstrate how to approach holds and talk watching climbers through navigating the route. During an observation, Alexis Harper, another captain, instructs a boulderer by physically climbing on the wall, pausing to explain or explicitly show how a hand or foot should be placed, and makes eye contact with the watching boulderer as she explains placements and approaches (Field Notes #2 lines 24-25). These demonstrations often involve routes or holds that the captains are familiar with, and so demonstrating a specific hold or a section of the route does not typically require the same amount of focus and effort that the watching climber will need to successfully climb that route. This allows the captain to both demonstrate and explain the necessary approach or technique for the watching climber. Ultimately, my findings support my theory that at either end of the climbing experience spectrum (little experience to lots of experience), there will be instruction. When you are a beginner climber like my third interviewee, there are climbers (both captains and not) who are willing to give you tips and introduce you to the ways of the sport. As you gain experience and possibly even become a captain of the team like my second and third participants, you earn responsibility, respect, and the ability to be the one handing out instructional advice and pieces of knowledge. Logging Projects A common aspect of the UW Climbing Team s bi-weekly practices is the concept of choosing a project and working towards completing that climbing project. Called logging projects or projecting, it is the act of choosing a specific route in the climbing gym that differs from other routes climbed at practice in several ways. As explained by my first interviewee, captain Devin Ligman (mentioned previously), a project is usually something that you see and it s not

6 something you can get the first time, it s not something you can get the second time, you work on it for anywhere between 15 minutes to 6 months to 5 years (Interview #1 lines 134-136). A project is right on the edge of being out of a climber s comfort zone, but also at a difficulty level where completing it is a reachable goal. For members of the UW Climbing Team, a typical project should take about a week to conquer. Devin explained that logging projects is a way for the captains to get an idea of how hard the people on the team can climb, and what particular routes should be used for competition training (Interview #1 lines 131-132). However, when it actually comes time for competitions, the level that a climber competes at is typically lower than the level of their projects. For example, my third interviewee, a beginner climber and new member of the UW Climbing Team, explained that although she has projects at the v3 level now, come competition time in late February she will most likely be competing at a v1 or even v0 level (Interview #3 line 134). This is because during competitions climbers typically only have about 2 hours to log as many routes as they can, and since projects are geared to take about a week to complete, this wouldn t make sense because hardly any points would be earned if climbers were taking on routes they could not complete in the 2 hours given. Although not completely relevant for competitions though, projects are still a very valuable component of climbing practice. No matter your experience level or position on the team, all climbers (even captains) have projects. By climbing on routes that are more difficult, climbers gain experience with smaller hand holds and more challenging movements. They are more likely to reach out for or accept instruction from captains or more experienced climbers about how to navigate a particular section of the route, which in turn gets them talking with and getting to know other climbers around them. Projects help climbers practice how to take the basics of climbing that they learned when tackling v0 routes and apply those techniques to routes with more overhang, larger gaps between holds, or tighter holds. With respect to captains choosing projects, although they are likely to be at a higher level than most UW Climbing Team members, they still allow these captains to improve their own climbing technique, learn how to approach new hand holds, and therefore improve the instruction and advice they are able to provide for less experienced climbers or even other captains working on similar project routes. In conclusion, logging projects hasa different meaning for general members of the UW Climbing Team than it does for the captains, but across rock climbers of all experience levels, projects have a similar effect of allowing climbers to build on their pre-existing skill set, practice applying technical moves to new routes, and challenge what level of routes they are able to conquer. Equipment & Attire Rock climbing equipment varies depending on what type of climbing the participant is doing. For example, while observing the UW Climbing Team practices, I noticed that members of the UW Climbing Team often only used climbing shoes and chalk bags while bouldering (Field

7 Notes #3 lines 22-28). There were, of course, the bouldering wall and blue mat already provided by the Crags Climbing Center too. The lower height of the bouldering wall compared to the rope climbing walls and the blue mat below the length of the bouldering wall eliminate the need for ropes, harnesses, and helmets. The blue mat not only served as a protective surface for climbers to fall on, but also as a platform for determining what climber was up next. In both my first and third interviews, my interviewees explained that they communicate to other climbers that they are ready to go by having their climbing shoes on and one foot on the blue mat next to the route (Interview #1 lines 244-246 and Interview #3 lines 236-239). Based on my field observations, this action of putting one foot on the blue mat generally signals to surrounding climbers that you are ready to climb next, and I would include it as a climbing etiquette since it does help organize the climbing wall and seems to be a fairly common practice amongst members of the UW Climbing Team. While climbing on any of the rope routes in the Crags Climbing Center, equipment generally includes climbing shoes, chalk bags, harnesses, and ropes (Field Notes #1 lines 46-47). If the participant is practicing lead climbing, there is also a hard helmet that is worn and an additional set of rope that is required. The Crags Climbing Center only provides one rope per route, however, so lead climbing does require participants to bring their own additional rope. I observed that many climbers take their harnesses off as soon as they are done climbing a rope route. This could be because they are going to boulder next which does not require a harness, because they are taking a break from climbing, because the harness is uncomfortable, or a mixture of these reasons. Some of the equipment such as the harness and rope work together to assist a climber, but other equipment such as chalk or shoes does not need to work with other pieces of equipment to serve their purpose. Additionally, the presence of one type of equipment may eliminate the need for another piece of equipment. On the rope routes for example, having a system of harnesses and ropes to catch a climber eliminates the need for a mat at the base of the wall. This, in turn, also seems to give more stability and room for the climbing partners at the base of the wall managing the ropes. It is also interesting that in the Crags Climbing Center, most of the equipment that is not being worn or used by climbers is scattered about the middle of the floor (Field Notes #1 line 46). There do not seem to be different areas for bouldering equipment and rope climbing equipment or an organized system for temporarily storing climbing equipment. This could be because equipment like chalk is used for all types of climbing and needs to be kept handy for climbers to use. It would probably be inconvenient to have to walk over across the gym every time you need to re-chalk your hands. I did notice in my field observations that some climbers have their chalk bags clipped to their harness or pants, but this was not a necessity for everyone. Although there was some variety between the climbers I observed, it seemed that most climbers wore casually athletic apparel. Many of the women wore running-style shorts or pants made of flexible materials such as athletic leggings (Field Notes #2 lines 15-16). Many of the men, on the other hand, were more commonly wearing pants of less flexible material such as

8 jeans or cargo pants. This may be because these pants allow for enough flexibility to reach holds and navigate the climbing wall while also providing enough coverage and stability when a route requires climbers to go sideways or even upside down. Most climbers, both men and women, wore simple, comfortable tank tops or short sleeve t-shirts. The temperature of the gym and the active participation in climbing made a jacket unnecessary. Climbers that had hair longer than their shoulders almost always had it tied back and if hats were worn, they were either backwards or had very short rims (Field Notes #2 lines 31-32). This allows climbers the most complete range of vision possible while examining holds and navigating routes. It would be interesting to observe climbing in an outdoor setting to compare the choice of apparel. Ultimately, it did not appear that there was much change in climbing equipment or attire as one gained experience with climbing or gained time with the UW Climbing Team. The only piece of data that I have to support a claim regarding a difference in equipment would be from my third interview when Caiti, the beginner member, explained that her shoes were falling apart from her bad technique and they weren t in the greatest shape to begin with since she got them for fairly cheap at a thrift store (Interview #3 lines 255-257). Both captains that I interviewed did not mention the quality of their equipment or any difference in equipment type or standard between beginners and more experienced climbers. If I have the opportunity to conduct further research on the UW Climbing Team or rock climbers in general, it would be interesting to look at what point climbers may choose to invest in higher quality equipment or at what point new equipment is required. Conclusion In conclusion, although there seem to be some aspects of rock climbing that don t change much as a climber gains experience with the UW Climbing Team, such as equipment or attire, there are elements of one s climbing experience that do evolve over time. Over the course of this study, I was able to gain insight both from climbers at the beginner level and those who have enough climbing experience to lead the UW Climbing Team as captains. By diving into what it means to engage in rock climbing from these two opposite ends of the climbing experience spectrum, I was able to understand how the action of logging projects holds different values for climbers of varying experience levels and positions on the team. Instruction, too, is an element of climbing that tends to vary with experience level, but although I only interviewed three members on the team, it is my understanding that supporting fellow climbers is a significant part of being on the team no matter what level you climb at. If I have the opportunity to conduct a follow-up or future study with the UW Climbing Team, I believe it would be interesting to consider the differences between one s climbing experience at UW Climbing Team practices and at climbing competitions. I understand that as a researcher this would pose more of a challenge since I would have to conduct field observations at both practice and competition sites, but given the right conditions and set of participations I think the results could be worth the effort. Potential future interview questions on this topic might prompt participants to consider the emotional aspect of competing and

9 also the ways in which the UW Climbing Team social dynamic changes from a practice to competitive setting. Bibliography Cover Page Photo taken by Alexis Harper in 2017. Mencarini, Eleonora, et al. Emotions in Climbing: a Design Opportunity for Haptic Communication Proceedings of the 2015 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing and Proceedings of the 2015 ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computers UbiComp 15, 7 Sept. 2015. Wright DM, Royle TJ, Marshall T. Indoor rock climbing: who gets injured? British Journal of Sports Medicine 2001; 35:181-185.