We’re interviewing a climber from each event in the Craggin’ Classic Series—Rumney, New River Gorge, Devil’s Lake, Smith Rock, Shelf Road, Moab, and Bishop—to take a deep look into the breadth of climbers that come to Craggins, and how they make the most of each unique event.
Read on to hear from climbers just like you, and their take on the things that matter to climbers.
Chad and Cooper Donahue.
Featured Climbers: Chad and Cooper Donahue
Devil's Lake Photos by: Laurel Myers @laureljmyers
AAC: How did you get into rock climbing?
Chad Donahue: Growing up I had a couple friends who were into rock climbing and so went a handful of times throughout high school. But my son Cooper and I really started getting into it last year, with Adaptive Adventures. My family found Adaptive Adventures, and hooked me up with Kat and Jesse and some of the other incredible people running it. My first trip with them I did some wakeboarding and I’ve tried a bunch of stuff from there!
There’s one rock climbing gym in Madison, and on every last Sunday of the month, Adaptive Adventures hosts an adaptive night for free. We’ve been going to these for a year. Any time I have Cooper, we end up going climbing if we can or doing something else active. They also have a couple times a year where they take climbers outside, and the clinic at the Devil’s Lake Craggin’ was one of them!
AAC: What does climbing mean to you?
Chad Donahue climbing indoors.
CD: Rock climbing gives me an opportunity to share anticipation—like getting excited to go to the movies as a kid. It's sometimes not even about the rock climbing, it's just the whole process. There is no right or wrong way to do the moves either, so it's really cool how different people can do the same thing in different ways. Like Moe, who was also at the adaptive clinic, is in a wheelchair, and he was just campusing this overhung route that is so hard for me! And climbing is just such a cool way to share those moments of connection and love of the outdoors.
I had a traumatic brain injury in 2014, and if that hadn’t happened, I probably wouldn’t have gotten back into rock climbing. Because of the TBI, I have a visual impairment and I’m legally blind, but I can see kind of well for someone who is legally blind. It’s kind of like being permanently without your glasses, everything is really blurry. A lot of fine motor skills are hard, so tying the rope for climbing is really hard. Spacial awareness can be pretty challenging now too…
AAC: Who are you besides a climber?
Chad Donahue rapelling.
CD: Well I’m a dad, a big music lover, our family has always been huge ice cream people, and I love being really active. I used to play a lot of sports—like basketball, tennis, lacrosse, and football.
Cooper is in 8th grade, I can’t believe he’s going to be in high school next year! He’s a really kind and thoughtful kid. He loves video games and anime, and he’s really incredible at art. And he likes climbing outdoors 5x more than indoor climbing. When we were wrapping up for the day on Sunday at the Craggin’ he didn’t want to come down.
We do a lot of active things together. Like we’re working towards a triathlon with Dare 2 Tri. Cooper likes biking but is definitely not a runner. When he was spacing out at the crag during a break from climbing, someone asked him what he was thinking about—and he said snowboarding haha. So we’re always getting up to something.
AAC: Tell us about the adaptive clinic at the Craggin’ event!
CD: We ended up climbing inside on Saturday due to weather, but it was still really fun! On Sunday, it was perfect weather out, and Cooper and I got to climb outside for the second time ever. The rock isn’t very grippy at Devil’s Lake, the handholds are weird. Climbing outside is in some ways so different than inside, it's kind of like starting over! But it was really fun to figure out a way up.
With every new volunteer that I climb with at Adaptive Adventures, I feel like I’m learning something new because they all have a different perspective. Like that day Jason was teaching me how to turn my hip in to extend my reach.
AAC: What’s climbing like for you?
Cooper Donahue helping Chad Donahue with his harness.
CD: My vision is barely a problem indoors because the colors of the holds stand out to me, but outdoor climbing really levels the playing field. It’s a lot more challenging outside, especially to find the footholds. One technique I’ve been working on will help me spot footholds better, by dragging my foot up the wall as I move it, so I can feel the feet without seeing them.
AAC: What’s it like climbing with your son Cooper? Do you worry any extra about safety because you’re also worried about him?
CD: The nice part about working with Adaptive Adventures is that I know that Cooper is in good hands and we’re showing him the ropes in a safe way. I just appreciate the joy on his face, and how excited he is to go rock climbing. He’s always ready to jump in though. His first time out rock climbing he got to rappel!
AAC: Do you have any dreams or goals around climbing?
CD: I just want to continue to have fun…and maybe go on a rock climbing trip to Colorado sometime!
Adaptive Clinic participant, Moe Ewing shows off his powerful pulls.
AAC: In your opinion, how can the climbing community better support adaptive climbers?
CD: Just treat ‘em like any other rock climber and offer help. They might not need it, but you never know unless you ask. With rock climbing becoming more popular, I think that it's really important for everyone to know that groups like Adaptive Adventures or Dare 2 Tri exist. Just because you have differences or challenges doesn’t mean shit. The mind and body is limitless! It’s all mindset—like in rock climbing when you think you can’t go anymore, but you pause and realize you can go a little further, and you push through and do more than you ever thought you could.
Adaptive Clinic participant, John Heim poses with his dog Scout.
Meet Chad and Cooper Donahue: Devil’s Lake Craggin’ Climbers
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