A South Dakota man is attending the 2025 USA Paraclimbing National Championships this spring.
Paul Martin is an adaptive climber based outside of Rapid City. Martin is competing against paraclimbers from across the country in Oakland, California, on March 1.
"What's most exciting for me is just being able to see this paraclimbing community again," Martin said. "There are really very, very few other amputees I've met just in general in my life at all. Only one in every several thousand children are born in the United States without an arm, and even fewer lose them in accidents. So, there just aren't a lot of people that I know. And to have this kind of climbing community where there are other people who are like me and also do the same thing that I like to do, it's just really special."
The top-ranked athletes at nationals join the Paraclimbing National Team and get the chance to compete in the International Federation of Sport Climbing World Cup circuit. To prepare for the national championships, Martin recently participated in the BaseCOMP bouldering competition at Black Hills Base Camp in Rapid City.
"Something that was very cool about this competition for me was seeing how I stack up against other able-bodied climbers," said Martin. "And I'm not going to be the best in the gym, but the fact that I was able to complete a lot of routes that even people with two-hands are struggling with is really an ego boost for me."
Martin started his rock climbing journey about a year and a half ago. Although he didn't identify as an athlete at the time, he quickly became hooked on the problem-solving aspect of the sport.
"The way that the rocks are arranged, like the height, how slanted the wall is, all of those things change all the time. It's always a new puzzle to try to figure out," said Martin. "And with having only one hand, climbing adaptively, I have to do even more creative thinking and problem-solving to figure out how am I, in particular, going to solve this climbing problem and get myself to the top? "
To raise awareness around Paraclimbing National Championships and to support other adaptive athletes, Martin is partnering with Black Hills Basecamp to host a Paraclimbing Fundraiser Contest this week. The contest runs through March 2 and gives participants the opportunity to experience climbing adaptively.
"I wanted to give other people a chance to live in my world for a little bit, in the world of adaptive climbing in general," Martin said. "So, I came up with this competition where people are challenged to try climbing different routes in the gym with different disability classifications. There's one that challenges you to climb like I do with only one hand, or another one that challenges you to climb with a visual impairment with your eyes closed ... anytime someone makes an attempt on a route, they donate a certain amount to an adaptive climbing organization."
Black Hills Basecamp is matching all donations from the fundraiser, with proceeds benefitting the Challenged Athletes Foundation.
"Adaptive climbing is expensive, more expensive than ordinary climbing is ... the Challenged Athletes Foundation does a lot to give grants to athletes who have disabilities, to make climbing more affordable and successful."
