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Climbers Look Forward to Growth of Their Sport

Tea Vasilescu

Don’t look down! Although mountain climbing is not a traditional sport in Romania, young climbers are looking ahead. The two youth branches of the Romanian Alpine Club are planning to re-establish University Cup competitions, the first since the communist era.

Ice climbing can be tricky

The first meet is in the planning stage for April, for winter climbing, with a second edition to follow in October for athletes who prefer the summer style of the sport. The organization, with youth departments located in Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca, hopes to attract mountaineers from all over the country, said Dan Vasilescu.

Its terrain makes Romania an ideal spot for mountain climbing, said Vasilescu, a former vice-president of the club and a pioneer of the sport in Romania. “Mountaineering is not an ‘extreme’ sport,” Vasilescu said, “no more than ping-pong is.”

Anyone who has looked over the side of a steep cliff may find that an extreme opinion in itself. But those who take the time and effort to do it well should regard climbing as no more extreme than any other sport that’s played at its best level, he said. Vasilescu took up climbing as a hobby, and later became a professional. He now trains crews to scale buildings for construction and advertising. He also shows geologists and construction climbers the ropes of safe mountain work.

“It takes about three years of training every day to become a professional,“ said Vasilescu. Staying in great physical and psychological shape is a must, he said. “All sports can be done at performance level; then they are extreme,” Vasilescu said. Mountaineering is an expensive sport, he acknowledged. “Not any more than skiing, but it costs most of your free time.”

Daniela Teodor, a first-year student in the University of Bucharest School of Geography, has been a climber for three years. “At 16, at a difficult time in my life, I started hiking,” she said, “and then I discovered there was more to mountains than trails.” A Romanian Alpine Club member for a year, she usually takes the Saturday morning train to Busteni along with other mountaineers.

“But I also train two times a week at a special climbing wall in Grozavesti, and I jog every day,” she said. “To be a climber, you need strength in your fingers and forearms.” Teodor, who has participated in several competitions, dreams of climbing Mount Everest. “Everest is mythical,” she said. “So far I’ve achieved everything I’ve planned to, so I believe one day I’ll climb the world’s highest peak.”

Teodor did have problems with concerned parents. “In the beginning, I told them that I was only hiking, showed them nice pictures of forests and trails. One day, though, they discovered some pictures of me rock climbing. Of course they are scared of losing me," she said.

Teodor said she had been injured, had nearly had one fatal fall and had even lost some friends. "Looking at it as an outsider, you might think that climbers are masochists," she said. "In the beginning you feel the pain, you get tired easily, you could break a leg. "But if you get through the psychological barrier, you don't feel the pain any longer. You see the world at your feet. It's a special feeling," she said. "You feel those moments more intensely."

WHAT YOU NEED

Since there are two styles of climbing, for summer and winter, you need two types of equipment.

A kit of summer gear costs about 20 milion old lei, and good products will generally last for up to 10 years. For winter ascents, you need to add the cost of special boots and warm, waterproof clothes, which vary in price according to quality. There are about five specialty shops in Bucharest. They sell imported equipment at western prices. Travel and housing costs are also considerations for mountain expeditions.

Membership in the Romanian Alpine Club requires an annual fee of 10 euros (2.5 euros for students). Most of the money goes toward renovation of the Alpine Hostel in Busteni. Benefits include 50 percent off housing in several alpine hostels around Europe and free specialized training. Prospective members must be recommended by two current members and need a “Mountain CV,” a list of trails they have ascended and an indication of how well they know the mountains. Training courses are recommended. The club was founded in 1936, but its activity was interrupted during the communist period. In 1989, a group of mountaineers decided to revive the organization. The club now has regional branches in more than 20 cities around the country and is part of the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation. It has 230 members, half of whom are students.

The club hosted an ice-climbing world championship, a first for Romania, in late February.

Ultimul număr tipărit (mai 2007, format PDF):