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When you think of a typical college student’s weekend, you might think of hanging out in coffee shops, playing intramural sports, or going downtown. But scaling up the side of a mountain?<\/p>\n
That’s exactly what Lilly McKinney did this fall when she planned and organized a rock climbing trip for the Furman University Outdoor Club.<\/p>\n
“I became interested in rock climbing midway through high school and now, it’s one of my very favorite activities,” said McKinney ’14 (Columbia, S.C.). “I wanted to share something I loved with the group and they were eager to try something new.”<\/p>\n
McKinney and nine other members of the outdoor club traveled to Gastonia, North Carolina in November for a rock climbing trip at Crowders Mountain. The group included the club’s staff advisor, Clayton Burton, and McKinney’s father, Stephen ’82.<\/p>\n
Most of the students involved were beginners, making the 1,625-foot mountain that sits an hour northeast of Greenville the ideal destination.<\/p>\n
“Crowders Mountain offers a lot of very good beginner routes and some more challenging routes,” McKinney said. “Everyone had a chance to experience climbing and to practice techniques and basics. The main goal was to just have fun.”<\/p>\n
That’s the goal of the Furman University Outdoor Club, which take students on a variety of outdoor trips, ranging in everything from hiking and mountain biking to skiing and white water rafting. The club has been around for nearly four decades.<\/p>\n
One of the club’s favorite places is the mountains of North Carolina because of it’s rock climbing spots. Chimney Rock Park and Rumbling Bald Mountain are also a short drive from Furman’s campus.<\/p>\n
On the group’s trip to Crowders Mountain, the students cut their teeth on a number of beginner courses. But even McKinney, who’s been climbing since high school, and Alecia Nichols ’16, a competitive rock climber from Chesterfield, Va., could find a challenge.<\/p>\n
“We did all the setup and beginner routes,” Nichols said. “Then, I asked our instructors about more challenging routes in the area. One of the instructors took me to a different area to climb some of the harder routes. It was really fun.”<\/p>\n
For Piedmont, S.C. native Aaron Huff ’14, the climbing trip gave him a new perspective on a familiar hobby. Although he climbs once a week at the Mountain Goat gym in Greenville, this was his first experience climbing outside.<\/p>\n
“The best part is the people,” Huff said. “The hardest part is looking down.”<\/p>\n