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With the weather becoming nicer this spring, my friends and I are thrilled that we can take part in outdoor activities again. We’ve been hiking, swimming, playing volleyball and spike ball, but more than anything, my friends love to climb.

I’ve given climbing a few tries, but all I seemed to get out of it were sore forearms and blistered hands. When my friends started to get into it, I figured their interests would fade after a few weeks and we’d get back to doing the things I also enjoyed. I was dead wrong.

Every day my friends have been seeking out new places to climb. I join them for the social aspect, but I usually just try a few times, fail and quit out of frustration.

Everyone else in the group seems to be consumed by climbing. I could tell that it’s not just a casual hobby for them; it’s a passion.

This passion for climbing is not solely in my friend group. Every day the climbing gym at the Colorado State University Student Recreation Center is packed with students. Almost everyone I know who’s started climbing in the past few months is now obsessed with it. There’s clearly something I’m missing, and I want to figure out what it is.

Henry Marett, a sophomore at CSU, started going to The Rec’s climbing gym in January.

“I caught the climbing bug pretty quickly,” Marett said. “I remember I was stuck on this one climb for like an hour. I tried 100 different ways, and I failed every time. But when I completed it finally, it was the best feeling ever. I never get sick of that feeling.”

Now Marett is climbing four to five days a week and bought a membership at a local climbing gym.

“The competition element is fun because you get to encourage your friends and vice versa, but it’s not my favorite part. Climbing is one of the only things that consistently gets me in a flow state. Before I found climbing, I would lift weights and do calisthenics, but it wouldn’t relieve much stress. When I’m climbing, that’s all I’m focusing on, and everything else seems to fade away.” -Aidan Meade, CSU Climbing team member

“After my first few weeks going, it became really addicting,” Marett said. “Even now, I feel like I’m missing something on days I can’t go, and I get kind of restless.”

Marett’s love for climbing has only increased in the past few months, and he is excited about being able to climb outside.

“I started in the winter, and so I was only climbing indoors, which is still really fun, but I feel like outdoor is going to be way better,” Marett said.“I’ve gone outdoor climbing a few times, and it’s an amazing experience, especially when you see your improvement.”

Aidan Meade, a junior at CSU, began climbing during the second semester of his first year. Meade also became hooked immediately and joined the CSU Climbing team his sophomore year.

“At the start, it was the progression that got me hooked,” Meade said. “The moment I saw myself improving, I was all in.”

Being a part of the climbing team, Meade has competed against a lot of other universities in the western region.

“The competition element is fun because you get to encourage your friends and vice versa, but it’s not my favorite part,” Meade said. “Climbing is one of the only things that consistently gets me in a flow state. Before I found climbing, I would lift weights and do calisthenics, but it wouldn’t relieve much stress. When I’m climbing, that’s all I’m focusing on, and everything else seems to fade away.”

After my conversations with Marett and Meade, there’s one main takeaway. The main thing I should focus on is having patience and breaking that threshold where I can start seeing improvement. According to their experiences, that’s the moment when you won’t look back.

With summer almost here, my friends are going to be climbing almost every day, and it’s up to me whether I can join them and have fun or continue to be the one in the corner wanting to do something else.

I’m going to force myself to climb consistently for the next few weeks, and hopefully, I’ll catch the climbing bug that many of my friends have. Wish me luck.

Reach Jack Miller at letters@collegian.com or on Twitter @millerjack02.