Pocatello Pump has climbers coming to the Gate City for 37th year

This morning in Ross Park, Pocatello Pumped kicked off its second day of climbing competition. For the 37th year, the event has brought climbers into Bannock County for this time trial climb.

The event has climbers scaling different faces in Ross Park, accumulating as many points as possible during the allotted time slot. Each face has a different point value based on difficulty.

The event, which serves as a fundraiser for an Idaho State University rock climbing scholarship, as well as donations the access fund, was started by Peter Joyce, then a college student, 37 years ago.

Joyce told me that it was during the Cold War that he was reading about a Soviet speed climbing competition, feeling that he could put one on in America. He did, and it’s been running ever since.

Now it’s the longest-running climbing competition in the country, “possibly the world,” Joyce said.

It’s a sport based on camaraderie, one of the things that keeps Joyce in it. Anytime you get up on a line, your life is in someone else’s hands.

Dozens of people did just that today, enjoying an afternoon of fun for a good cause.