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The Climb at Cal Poly

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo's campus features a climbing park right outside of the university's Recreation Center where students can partake in bouldering and belaying on two separate climbing walls. The students that climb here love it for several reasons. Continue on to learn a little more about climbing on this Central Coast campus and why so many students enjoy it.

A Day at the Wall

One Student's Perspective

Rachel Osborne has been climbing for several years, continuing the love for the sport into her collegiate career. You can almost always find her climbing , whether she's on campus, off-campus, with the campus's climbing club or competing with the climbing team. This is her perspective of climbing on Cal Poly's walls.


Off-Campus Climbing

Why Climb on Campus?

Why do Cal Poly students love to climb on campus? Click on each image to find out.
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John Balido /> Nick Slavin /> Nicole Zeltser />

One Student's Story

A Day at the Wall

From grabbing gear, chalking up your hands, picking a route and catching an evening climb, this is a day at Cal Poly's climbing park.


The Poly Escapes outdoor climbing park, located by the Recreation Center, features two rock walls for bouldering and belaying, free of charge for all Cal Poly students and Recreation Center members. / Oct. 16, 2019 / The Poly Escapes outdoor climbing park The only main requirements of climbing here are checking-in to the Poly Escapes Office to receive a wristband and gear, unless you bring your own gear from home. / Oct. 16, 2019 / The Poly Escapes outdoor climbing park Scout Taylor, a child development senior and climbing park employee, says that climbers must wear climbing shoes that feature “a special sticky rubber that’s more stiff. You can put all of your body weight on them and they don’t bend.” / Oct. 16, 2019 / The Poly Escapes outdoor climbing park Once you are ready to start climbing, Taylor says it is good to know that the color of the “tape indicates which rocks you can touch. At the beginning of each route there’s a tag. The color of the tag indicates difficulty… White is the most difficult, red is the easiest.” / Oct. 16, 2019 / The Poly Escapes outdoor climbing park The tags, while functional, also add some fun to the wall, labeled with names like “Heel of Fortune” or “Turkey Drop,” seasonally named by the wall’s staff. / Oct. 16, 2019 / The Poly Escapes outdoor climbing park In order to make recommendations for safer, better or even more challenging routes, the climbing park is always staffed by avid climbers standing by to help or cheer you on. / Oct. 16, 2019 / The Poly Escapes outdoor climbing park Not only will the shoes and staff help you climb, but many climbers like Austin Conrad, a mechanical engineering senior, use hand chalk. “The idea behind the chalk is that it absorbs all of the moisture… it gives you a grip.” / Oct. 16, 2019 / The Poly Escapes outdoor climbing park “Everybody kind of chalks up right at the start. Hopefully you have enough chalk to get to the top, but if sometimes you don’t and you’ve got a really long one, they come with a little belt loop so you can buckle it to your waist,” Conrad said of the bags of chalk. / Oct. 16, 2019 / The Poly Escapes outdoor climbing park However, even some climbers ignore the chalk, like sophomore materials engineer Hannah Martin, who started climbing more than four years ago with her dad who does search and rescue. / Oct. 16, 2019 / The Poly Escapes outdoor climbing park As she tied a figure-eight knot to her harness so a staff member could belay her for “crack climbing,” or climbing up the crack of the wall, Martin explained why she loves climbing. / Oct. 16, 2019 / The Poly Escapes outdoor climbing park “It’s the whole package… I love just being in shape and having some way to workout that’s not just doing the machines at the Rec. It’s super cool because there’s always something harder to do… something more difficult,” said Martin. / Oct. 16, 2019 / The Poly Escapes climbing park As it appears, Martin is not alone in her love for climbing. From the wall’s opening at noon, up until I left around 3:00 p.m., there was a consistent crowd of climbers surrounding the walls. / Oct. 16, 2019 / The Poly Escapes climbing park Naturally, when I returned back at the walls a half-hour before the closing time of 7:00 p.m., the chill in the air still didn’t stop the group of 13 climbers from putting on their shoes and chalking up for another route. / Oct. 16, 2019 / The Poly Escapes climbing park

Why Climb on Campus?

Off-Campus Climbing by The Numbers

While climbing is cherished by many Cal Poly students, the sport's reach goes far beyond this campus. Here is a glimpse at the history of climbing and the stats surrounding U.S. climbing.