![\"Chester](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2013\/03\/A2-rock-climber.jpg\")
<\/a>Chester Chiao ’13 trains on the rock wall in Merill Gymnasium. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/p><\/div>\n
What are you doing in this picture?<\/strong> Why do you climb?<\/strong> I climb because it helps me discover my limits, face my fears and overcome them. It also teaches me how to be both physically and mentally in check.<\/p>\n “Nothing else matters until you get to the top.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The summit is what we strive for, but the process to it is extremely rewarding. I am in a completely different environment in the vertical world, and nothing else matters until you get to the top.<\/p>\n Last but not least, the people you meet along the way and the stories they share about their adventures has also attracted me to the climbing community.<\/p>\n How does climbing fit into your Bates life?<\/strong> Does your style differ from other Bates climbers?<\/strong> Why climb shirtless?<\/strong> “I climb because it helps me discover my limits, face my fears and overcome them.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":221,"featured_media":63428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[32,11012],"tags":[10574,10856,9873],"class_list":["post-64172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-maine-and-new-england","category-student-life","tag-bates-in-brief-2","tag-bates-magazine","tag-winter-2013"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64172"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64448,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64172\/revisions\/64448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI am training for endurance: keeping myself on the wall as long as possible.<\/p>\n
\nI ask myself that question when I am 500 feet above ground on a vertical rock face, freezing my butt off, knowing that I am two-hour drive away from my cozy bed and delicious Commons food!<\/p>\n
\nMy buddies and I always look for adventures on the weekends \u2014 trying to get on multi-pitch climbs in North Conway, N.H., or pulling on hard sport climbs in Shagg Crag, about 15 miles east of Bethel, Maine.<\/p>\n
\nI am smaller than most climbers at Bates (and the rest of the world). I have to come up with different \u201cbeta,\u201d ways or sequences to do a certain climb, and be more dynamic to reach faraway holds.<\/p>\n
\nClimbing without a shirt is a big part of the bouldering culture. They say it makes you climb harder. Maybe that\u2019s true, or maybe they just want to show off their back muscles. I took my shirt off because it was really hot in the gym, and I didn\u2019t have another shirt to change into before dinner. Plus, I\u2019m too scrawny to show off anything.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"