The Forum

Issue date: 2/23/10 Section: Campus

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"This is God giving us a sign that we need to go down," said Westminster graduate David Wintzer as he noticed an upside down tree on the trail. "It was a total joke, but literally five seconds later the rock broke lose."

Crack! Suddenly a chunk of the mountain the size of a small car was headed right towards Westminster student Jesse Blais. On top of the rock his friend Phil Stogner, held on for his life.

"Somewhere in there the adrenaline took over my awareness, my reaction. There wasn't any time to think," said Blais.

With a large cliff just to his side, Blais's safest option was to hug the wall right in front of him. The rock then squashed Blais knocking him 20 feet down the steep cliff face and leaving him with gashes all over his body, five broken ribs, a collapsed lung, and a high-compression ankle fracture.

Meanwhile Stogner was tomahawking down the steep face, still clinching onto the rock as it rapidly accelerated.

"He did like three big rotations with the rock," said Wintzer. "But each one he would bounce higher and higher. As the rock was heading for the cliff, I saw Phil lock his eyes on a tree. He jumped off the rock, doing a 180 (half spin) and grabbed the tree. The tree disappeared over the edge of the cliff."

"I thought for sure he was dead," said both Wintzer and Blais.

A few seconds later, they heard a quiet voice from the cliff. Stogner's arm was twisted up in the small tree he had leapt for, saving him from the 70 to80-foot drop directly below.

Bloody. Broken. Exhausted. Alone.

There they would wait nearly seven hours until helicopters were able to fly them out.

This is the story of a warm sunny September afternoon gone wrong in 2007. The friends were only a quarter-mile from the top of Neffs peak on Mt. Olympus. It was supposed to be a casual Sunday climb.

However, three years later Blais and Wintzer are back climbing at Westminster.

"The whole experience has impacted all of our lives," said Blais. "But I don't think this will ever change the fact that the mountains are a place of escape from society."

"There is always that fear factor, that's what drew me to it from the beginning," said Wintzer. "I enjoy going to the gym to climb because of the challenge."

With a 46-foot indoor climbing wall and an outdoor wall, Westminster provides a climber's playground.

But on the climbing wall, there is a different crowd than in other sports. No standard fashion or uniform, no scene and no "Locals Only" signs.

"The climbing community is different. They don't have any judgment towards each other. Everyone is just psyched to climb and everyone knows you have to start at the bottom," said Steven Jeffery, professional rock climber and Westminster's new climbing wall pro and tech.

"That's a goal for Westminster, for us," said Liz Rogers, director of Outdoor Programs. "We hope people feel comfortable to climb no matter what level."

"You could be the muscle head that can break a car with his bare hands, but a wiry, tiny 10-year-old girl could climb right past you. It doesn't matter," said Jeffery.

Jeffery has also been injured climbing, not as big as an accident as Blais, but one that almost ended his career.

"It was a pulley in my ring finger. Just a little muscle, that I think has one of those 'L' numbers, but as small and pathetic as it sounds, it nearly ended my career."

Climbing can seem dangerous, but climbers insist that with knowledge climbing is a very safe activity. "In all reality, it's more dangerous to drive your car," said Jeffery.

Dangerous or not, a lot of climbers find rock climbing a natural step from their childhood activities and their continual pursuit for adventure.

"Why ration passion?" said professional climber Mike Libecki during his visit to Westminster last week.

"Death and or old age is coming. We must live sweet! The time is now."

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