A clear sky. Low 52F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.

A clear sky. Low 52F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.

Sunny. High 94F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.

Brad Burns reaches his hand upward for a hold.

Brad Burns scales the wall while looking for a place to hold.

Brad Burns reaches his hand upward for a hold.

Brad Burns scales the wall while looking for a place to hold.

SHERIDAN —  It’s an outdoor adventure sport that takes athletes to new heights. 

Rock climbing may have a small base in Sheridan County, but it’s a growing community throughout Wyoming. Rock climbing has experienced a recent boom across the world due to it becoming an official Olympic sport and also due to the Free Solo documentary about Alex Honnold, an American climber who climbed El Capitan in Yosemite National Park without ropes, harnesses or other protective equipment. 

Unlike Honnold, the rocking climbing community in Sheridan County pushes safety measures in the sport. According to Bighorn Climbers’ Coalition president, Bradford Burns, it’s essential for even experienced climbers to go with others, and let people know where you’re going since cell phone reception is spotty at best in the Wyoming wilderness. 

Despite low turnout from the locals, there are many visitors that seek guides for climbing. According to Burns, around 200 people reach out to the Bighorn Mountain Guides in the summer months. The guide service can’t take the large influx of people from Texas, California, Colorado and midwest states due to low staffing. 

Burns said tens of thousands of climbers come through Ten Sleep in any given summer, but there are plenty of great options in Sheridan County for climbers including Tongue River Canyon and Piney Creek outside Story. There are even opportunities for beginners with a rock wall at the Tongue River Valley Community Center, and the YMCA in Sheridan is also in the process of building a wall.

The Bighorn Climbers Coalition is a nonprofit organization that protects and provides access to rock climbing in the Bighorn Mountain region. The coalition maintains restroom facilities and trash cans in Ten Sleep Canyon to mediate and mitigate climate waste. The organization also has a fund called “The Bighorn Anchor Initiative,”  which is donation driven. All the funds go toward purchasing state-of-the-art hardware to replace aging bolts and anchors to keep climbers safe.

Beginners in the sport are best-off climbing with a professional guide, Burns said. Bighorn Mountain Guides is permitted and certified through the American Mountain Guide Association and has extensive knowledge and training with technical rock climbing. Burns anticipates the sport growing in the Sheridan area. 

“I know of probably 10 to 15 people that climb and only about five of those people regularly climb,” Burns said. “Every one of those except for maybe a handful is male, white and in their 30s. So it's a very undiverse community where we're at, which is a shame. We'd like to see that expanded and see more people climbing, more young people climbing, more older people climbing, people of different races and colors climbing around our area. But as of right now, it's pretty much like 15 white dudes in their 30s.”

Rock climbing isn’t as scary as a lot of people think, rock climbing hobbyist Laine Parish said. 

“I think when most people think about climbing, they think about those pretty terrifying documentaries like Free Solo. But I think what a lot of people don't realize is that the sport climbing around Sheridan County is incredibly safe,” Parish said. “I take kids to do a lot of different adventures from skiing, to mountain biking, to cross-country and skiing. And with all my guiding the event that has the least amount of worry, stress and injuries is sport climbing. So it's a lot safer than people realize.”

Justin Hunter is a reporter at The Sheridan Press. 

Justin Hunter is a reporter at The Sheridan Press.

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