Pamela Shanti Pack - Art of Offwidth

I have been running a series of specialty climbing clinics called the “Art of Offwidth” in the world-renowned climbing destination of Indian Creek, UT for three years now...

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Our goal is for our students to develop a skill set that enables them to safely and effectively climb challenging offwidths from Indian Creek to Yosemite. 

We armbar, hand-fist stack, butterfly stack and invert our way through 20 pitches in three days. We mock lead with Big Bros and 9” cams, we teach our students how to avoid getting ropes pinned behind knees -- our students leave abraded, bruised, and exhausted but many returns to Indian Creek to lead the routes we teach in the Clinic and many have become lifelong friends.

The Fall 2020 Art of Offwidth clinic, however, was far more than teaching people offwidth technique. The Clinic evolved into using offwidth as a way to cope with grief, loss, and challenging times. 

2020 was a difficult year for all of us as a pandemic spread throughout the world seemingly overnight and we were required to isolate ourselves. We were separated from our friends, our families,  and the climbing community. Indian Creek, for the first time in over 30 years, lay empty. Wildfires raged throughout the country, and Covid continues to haunt us. We were unsure about teaching a clinic during these tumultuous times, but we chose to run it as a way of restoring hope and normalcy – as a way to find community, support, and joy again.

Offwidth is far more than a style of climbing -- offwidth requires tremendous patience, an ability to withstand physical pain and simultaneously perform highly technical movements. Throughout our clinic, we not only learned to perform the most challenging of techniques, but we also used offwidth as a way to heal. There is an irony in using the most physically grueling style of climbing to heal, but the demanding physical nature of the style lends itself to learning how to endure pain, to find joy in even the smallest moments of progress. And ultimately our students discover that offwidth is not all pain and suffering -- that the movements can be graceful, artful, and elegant. 

I taught the Clinic with Gisely Ferraz Souza and Marcus Garcia. Brazilian crusher Gisely has been climbing for 25 years. I met Gisely this summer in Vedauwoo, WY. I had chatted with Gisely on Instagram last August when she lost her boyfriend in a climbing accident in Squamish. I read about her loss and invited her to come climb offwidths with me. I’ve always found that the physical nature of offwidth climbing is a good way to manage emotional pain in a tangible way as the style is so mentally and physically consuming. Over the course of the summer in Vedauwoo Gisely, who stated from the beginning she did NOT like offwidth climbing, not only became a technically brilliant and efficient offwidth climber but also discovered strength and a renewed passion for life through offwidth which she was able to share with our clients. As Gisely says: “Life is more painful than offwidth.”  Gisely’s vulnerability and determination encouraged our students to open up about their own losses -- her resilience inspired us all to persevere despite so many losses and pursue our dreams despite so many obstacles. 

I have known Marcus Garcia for years but had never had the opportunity to watch him work with students. Marcus has 25 years of guiding and coaching experience and has been climbing for over 30 years. He has also established some of the most committing and beautiful routes in North America, but perhaps his greatest gift is his ability to teach and mentor future climbers.  Marcus spent a day with us analyzing the students’ movements and teaching them which muscles to activate in order to move more efficiently and effectively. Even Marcus admitted that after years of avoiding offwidth the Clinic inspired him to climb them again as well.

We will be teaching another “Art of Offwidth Clinic” in the Spring of 2021. Offwidth is a means of learning to be resilient, to find grace in the grovel.

Join us in the Spring to learn to find the elegance in offwidth!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Pamela Shanti Pack is a member of the La Sportiva Mountain Running® Team.

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