By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News

In recent years, climbing has swept through the San Rafael Swell as the sport of choice for locals and visitors alike. Recognizing this, the Joe’s Valley Climbing and Community nonprofit is looking to close out the climbing season with a first-of-its-kind event in Emery County: the Joe’s Valley Pump-a-Thon climbing competition on May 17 and 18.

Julie Janus from the nonprofit joined the KOAL newsroom to discuss this event, which looks to connect climbers and serve the community.

“A lot of folks may be familiar with our Joe’s Valley fest that we hold every fall in Castle Dale and Orangeville, and that’s all under a nonprofit called Joe’s Valley Climbing and Community, where we work on bringing rock climbers and the local community together,” said Janus. “And we’re trying to expand our year-round programs, including summer camps for Emery and Carbon County youth, where they can go out and learn bouldering and climbing. So this event, the Pump-a-Thon, is partially a fundraiser for some of those year-round programs.”

Day One of the event features the climbing competition, which Janus explained: “We’re doing this as an endurance competition. So basically, we have different levels that they can sign up for: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. We have different age categories for youth and adults, and you basically climb as many rocks as you can in a five-hour window, so we’re pretty excited to see how that’s gonna work for folks.”

She continued,” People can come out and just give it a shot because this is our first event that we’ve done, and we have a ton of prizes. So there’s a good chance, even if you’re new to it, you still might win a prize or a raffle prize. But it’s also a good way to come spectate and see what we’re all about.”

Following the competition, the day will end with a block party featuring food trucks, live music and a bonfire. “A big part of our nonprofit is just getting the different communities between the climbers and the local folks to interact with each other and learn where we have common ground between the groups. For the climbers, it’s a chance to see what’s in this community that they’re passing through. What it has to offer in terms of businesses that they can support and give a chance for locals to understand who these people are traveling from all over the country and all over the world, because it is world-class climbing here in Emery County.”

Day two of the Pump-a-Thon allows participants to give back to the community through trail cleanup. “We’re going to go out to what we call the New Joe’s Climbing Area, it’s out by Grimes Wash just outside of Orangeville, and we’re going to be doing maintenance on the trails out there. It’s by some of the old mine monuments, but that’s also where we do a lot of the climbing. And so we’ll be just doing some maintenance on the trails; it’s part of what we like to do with all of our events.”

In closing, Janus said,” We’re grateful for the community here. It’s really supported our nonprofit over the years with the festival, and we’re excited to be adding another event that’ll bring people into town, give us all a chance to interact with each other, and raise some funds for the summer camps.”

The Joe’s Valley Pump-a-Thon will be held on Friday, May 17 and Saturday, May 18. Registration is open and available online at joesvalley.org.