Rock Out!
- May 4
- 4 min read
From backpacking trips through the Smokies to scaling sandstone out West, the CSU Mountaineers are always ready for a new adventure.
Written by Ava Brennan
If nature is one big playground, then mountains are a jungle gym for experienced rock climbers. One individual may stare at a mountaintop, thinking: I bet that view is beautiful. A seasoned climber would be thinking: how do I get to the top?
We don’t need to travel to Appalachia or California to witness individuals climb with passion and vigor, they exist within our own on-campus community
The Cleveland State University Mountaineers is a club focused on climbing, backpacking and enjoying the great outdoors with fellow students and friends. The group varies in skill, as some are seasoned climbers with belay certifications, and others are completely new to the climbing world. Even with such a diverse group, they all have something in common: a fascination with climbing and a love for the outdoors.
Sam Durno, a senior civil engineering student and treasurer of the Mountaineers, joined the club during his freshmen year as a way to find a community and expand on his curiosity to rock climb.
“I went to the [student] organization fair in the fall and found the mountaineering club,” Durno said. “It was on my radar, because it's something I’ve always been interested in.”
The Mountaineers meet every Friday to explore nature trails or climb a variety of indoor and outdoor courses, from hiking to indoor climbing. They also take two trips each year to notable climbing locations around the country.
With the Mountaineers, Durno has traveled to popular locations such as Red River Gorge, Kentucky, New River Gorge, West Virginia, Red Rock Canyon, Nevada, and most recently, the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee.
Ten members traveled to the Smokies this past spring break for a backpacking trip. The group spent their days walking eight to nine miles in daylight, and sleeping in trail shelters at night.
“The first two days were absolutely glorious,” Durno said. “The natural scenery and the viewpoint from the Newfound gap [were] beautiful.”
They shared trails and shelters with hikers of all different walks of life. While staying on the trail's shelter, the group met Tinker, a 79-year-old hiker.
“We spent that whole night just hanging out and asking him questions,” Durno said.
The beginning of their trip was filled with long hikes, magnificent scenery, and bonding with club members.
Unfortunately, on their third day, the temperature dropped from 60 to 30 degrees overnight. They woke up to four inches of snow, which was beautiful to look at, yet not realistic to continue in.
“It was a lot of people’s first time backpacking,” Durno said. “So, we found a place where we could bail and hike back down to our cars.”
Although the Mountaineers backpacking trip was cut short, they were able to spend the rest of their trip in an Airbnb in Chattanooga — with the comfort of a hot tub after three days of long hiking through the wilderness.
While they needed to retreat, the members agreed that the memories made and sights seen were worth the endeavor.
As a senior, Durno holds some of his fondest college memories with the CSU Mountaineers. His freshmen-year trip to Red Rock Canyon was a formative experience for him as a climber.
“I did so many things I never thought I would do, like going out to Nevada and climbing a beautiful red sandstone,” Durno said.
Durno's favorite memory of the past four years was hiking to the Arizona Hotsprings from Red Rock Canyon.
“It was amazing. Getting there after a three-mile hike, feeling the warm water and being able to sit back and relax…I want to go back every year,” Durno said.
This love for climbing goes beyond the students on campus. Ramune Braziunaite, faculty advisor of the CSU Mountaineers, is a professor of communications at CSU and a seasoned climber.
Braziunaite admits she wasn’t always an outdoors or athletic person in her youth.
“I was not athletic at all as a kid. I was wearing big fat glasses, and I was always sitting and reading a book,” Braziunaite said.
Braziunaite’s initial interest in climbing is something she picked up from her husband's love of the activity. Her husband began climbing after a shoulder injury caused by kayaking. Braziunaite joined her husband as he took up climbing, but did not feel pulled to it at first.
“I was not into it at all. I was like, ‘this is not natural, this is hard,’” Braziunaite said. “But I started going to the [rock] gym to keep him company.”
These simple gym visits soon became her belaying her husband on the rock wall. Not too long after, it grew into something she loved.
“I got into it, little by little,” Braziunaite said. “I climbed more and got better at it.”
Braziunaite has been climbing for 14 years and continues to love the sport and the community that comes along with it.
“I ended up having a big group of people in the climbing community,” Braziunaite said. “If I think about who my closest friends are, it's the people who are climbing, and if my friends aren’t climbing, I introduce them to it.”
Braziunaite thinks that the people who partake in the activity is a major part of what makes the sport so special.
There are different reasons and ways people approach climbing, but one thing seems to connect all climbers' stories: community.