Grant Dreffer, 15, of Concord and Chloe LaBerge, 16, of Pepperill, Mass., like to climb up walls with oddly shaped grips on them.
And it turns out the Evolution Rock and Fitness youth team pair are quite good at it. That’s why the two are making their way to Stone Summit in Atlanta, Ga. this week for USA Climbing’s Sport Climbing Series Youth National Competition.
From Thursday to Sunday, Dreffer and LaBerge will take on the best youth climbers in the country in both speed and sport climbing, as they work to earn a top four finish and a spot on the national team.
To qualify for nationals, the Evo climbers had to place in two local competitions, and then finish in the top seven at both regionals and pisionals.
Before leaving for the deep south, we caught up with Dreffer and LaBerge at one of their training sessions to ask a few questions.
How did you get into climbing?
Grant: I started climbing at the YMCA near my house with my dad and then I started going to Vertical Dreams a little bit and I got hooked.
Chloe: I was at my sister’s birthday in Nashua at Boulder Morty’s and my parents said that I loved climbing so I joined the team and then I stated from there on the youth team.
What was you reaction when you qualified for nationals?
Grant: I was pretty excited cause I’ve never done that before. This is my first time going and it’s a pretty big competition so I was just super psyched.
Chloe: I was super excited to be going to Georgia again and just ready to train hard.
What are your expectations for nationals?
Grant: I’m just hoping to do my best and have a good day by climbing my best.
Chloe: I’ve made nationals eight times, I’ve made top 10 like five or six times, so I’m hoping to get top four, which is Team USA, but that’s pretty high expectations.
Which do you prefer better, speed or sport climbing?
Grant: I like sport a lot better than speed.
Chloe: Definitely the sport. I’m really bad at the speed climbing.
How do you envision yourself staying involved in climbing as you get older?
Grant: I think I’m definitely going to stay with it. It’s something I do all the time, so I’ll probably stay with it for the rest of my life.
Chloe: I hope to do it through college. I want to do the club team and outside during college and then I hope to keep doing it from there.
What’s the most difficult outdoor climb you’ve done?
Grant: I haven’t been climbing outside that much, but I’ve tried a couple 513A’s at Rumney, like Suburban and Bottom Feeder, but that’s about all I’ve tried.
Chloe: I’ve done two 513 A’s. One was called Suburban and the other was called Bottom Feeder and they’re both in Rumney.
