By Victoria Hernandez

Lori Rooney, a Springdale teacher and coach, is stretching out across the gravel at the Jamestown Crag, sweat dripping down despite the cool breeze. Even after nearly a decade of climbing, the rush still gets to her. She takes each crevasse of the rock pressed against her carefully, one at a time, making it to her destination with ease despite dangling above the ground below.

Rooney said she was always big into the outdoors. After moving from Wisconsin at a young age to avoid the cold, Rooney grew up in the South. She attended college at the University of Central Arkansas to run track from 2005 to 2009, but was drawn back to the vast outdoor opportunities of Northwest Arkansas in 2019. 

She never rock climbed until a childhood friend of her husband’s took the couple out to a crag for the weekend. The couple climbed every weekend after that for two years.

Over the past few years, many people have taken to rock climbing like Rooney. The sport has moved from being strictly competitive to more of a trending hobby.

With the growth of interest, more indoor facilities have been created, making rock climbing more accessible. Boulders and Brews, a climbing gym and coffee shop located on Dickson Street, is one of those facilities.

Patrick Randall, a friend of Rooney’s, has moved on from just the hobby of rock climbing to entrepreneur, partnering with Fallon Cardoza and Jason Lan to create the business.

“There’s a few (other places like Boulders and Brews). The space really allowed us, the Clubhaus gym that used to be here, it had a smoothie bar and so (having) coffee was really important,” he said. “Whenever you go out climbing, I have coffee with me and so it’s just part of that outdoor experience.”

Supplied by Onyx beans and Pinkhouse syrups, the coffee stays local because the business is local. Randall said places like Fayetteville are becoming rare and to keep that tight knit community, supporting each other wherever they can.

Boulders and Brews is an indoor climbing gym, but since they all came from the outdoors, the owners also want to give climbers the tools and information for all the outdoor climbing the state has to offer, Randall said.

The trio’s desire was to create a space where the outdoors can still be appreciated when the Arkansas weather gets in the way of climbing the crag, perfecting a place for friends to hangout and climb in an indoor atmosphere, Cardoza said. Beyond allowing climbing to continue despite the everchanging Southern weather, the indoor experience is becoming more incorporated into the previously outdoor only sport.

“There’s no real regulations on climbing. There’s no standardization. New boards have been coming out every day, there’s new technology, VR,” Randall said. “The sport’s just going in all different directions and it’s exciting to see.”

Rooney’s passion for rock climbing grew from more than just a pastime like Randall’s. Less than a year into her journey, Rooney trained and competed in King of the Crag.

The King of the Crag competition takes place outside of Batesville at the Jamestown Crag. 

The contest raises money for rebolting and upkeep of the trail system to keep people coming out to enjoy the climbing. The outdoor sport climbing competition hosts three levels, including recreational, advanced and rock god. Rooney won first place for the recreational division only three months after starting the sport.

Following her win at King of the Crag, Rooney looked into more competing opportunities and set her eyes on Horseshoe Hell. In 2014, Rooney attended as a spectator to see her friend compete and left thinking ‘this is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.’

By 2016, Rooney and a partner finally got the chance to compete in Horseshoe Hell. In order to qualify, the climbers had to complete 100 routes in 24 hours. Rooney and her partner managed to finish with 104.

“She had actually gotten second place in it and people apply from all over the world to get into this so she was like a legend and I didn’t know who I was with,” said Randall about his first experience climbing with Rooney. Everyone was coming up and talking to them since “she was basically like a celebrity out there.”

“We spent the entire day (climbing) and after that day I bought the shoes, I bought the harness, I bought everything I could and just fully dived in,” Randall said.

Like Randall, Cardoza and Lan are fellow rock climbing enthusiasts. 

Cardoza began rock climbing five years ago, living out of a van and climbing all across the U.S. and Canada. Arkansas is a really big mecha for sports climbing with some of the best sandstone around, she said.

“When you’re on the wall, the prong is just like a challenge against yourself and the wall and not like someone else,” Lan said. “The problem-solving aspect of climbing and having the physical strength. It’s pretty much a physical thing where the stronger that you get, the better you’ll do so I’ve always loved that you’re not dependent on whether you have a good racket or if you’re bad or whatever, it’s like you, yourself, so I’ve always loved that.”

Beyond the sport side of rock climbing, there’s the spiritual side of battling fear and relying on your abilities, Randall said.

“Not many sports offer that opportunity so it is much more of you battling yourself, battling your own internal voice that you set for yourself. It’s whenever you’re reaching for a hole you’re like ‘man I can’t do that’ but the only way you’re ever going to try to get that climb in or to get that send or get that next step is to reach past that fear that you set for yourself,” he said. “I mean that applies for not just climbing, but anything in life. That anything is achievable if you just give it a shot.” 

Rock climbing allows for growth physically, mentally, spiritually and socially. These characteristics behind it have built up the sport with a strong community.

“We don’t know where the sport is going and that’s why it’s much easier for us as business owners to know that regardless of wherever the sport goes we know that everyone is looking for connection,” Randall said. “Everyone has something to say. Everyone wants everyone else to listen and offering a space that is not too big where you feel alone, but that’s not small enough to where you’re crawling on everyone, where you feel claustrophobic. It’s the perfect size that allows strangers to communicate and try routes out together. It’s just been such a cool experience to witness.”