“It’s super rewarding to be able to introduce people to something that I love so much and watch them fall in love with it too.”

Caroline Mosher, now the Chair of the Mountaineering Section of PATC, started climbing in the gym when she was in college. She didn’t pursue it seriously at the time, but after going back to school for Nurse Anesthesia training, Caroline needed an outlet, noting that the training was consuming her life. “I wanted to do something different that I would enjoy. I used to climb when I was in college, so I took a climbing class through REI.”

Her climbing instructor pointed her in the direction of the  PATC. “I went on a few climbing trips with the Mountaineering Section, and after a couple years I decided to run for chair, and the rest is history.” With her return to climbing, Caroline began climbing outdoors, getting into sport climbing and trad climbing. 

For those who aren’t familiar with the variations of climbing, sport climbing involves climbing on a rope and clipping the rope into bolts until you reach the top of a route. While there is always danger involved in rock climbing, sport climbing is pretty safe if you know what you’re doing. Trad climbing involves a higher level of risk, as there are generally no bolts or pre-placed points of protection on the routes. You must carry your own gear, placing pieces of protection as you climb. This requires one to not just be a physically strong and competent climber, but a mentally strong one as well.

“I want to lead a climb called Ecstasy at Seneca Rocks. When I first started climbing, I was climbing with a partner that was much better than me and he took me up this climb. That was the climb that made me say, “This is spectacular, I have to keep doing this.” I was totally sold on that climb and on trad climbing. It’s taken me about three years to go from following somebody on it to leading it, hopefully.”

Caroline describes Ecstasy with the excitement and passion that most climbers exhibit when talking about a project. There’s no better feeling than working a climb for months, or even years, and finally sending it. But sending her projects isn’t the only thing that Caroline gets out of climbing. 

“The biggest reward is when I see somebody who hasn’t really climbed before and they’re just trying it out. Then they sign up for every single trip, and soon you see them signing up for the sport climbing trips and then the trad climbing trips and, in a year or two, you see them go from zero to hero.” 

Connecting experienced members of the club with the next generation of climbers is a large part of Caroline and the Mountaineering Sections’ mission. They host climbing trips throughout the DC, VA, WV, MD, and PA regions, as well as gym meetups, climbing clinics, and mentorship programs. 

The PATC Mountaineering Sections’ mission is also to preserve the places they love to climb. While they currently do crag cleanups and other volunteer work, Caroline hopes to continue increasing the Club’s conservation efforts at Great Falls, Carderock, Sugarloaf Mountain, and other local climbing areas, to address issues such as erosion, graffiti, and general maintenance. If you’d like to get involved with the Mountaineering Section of PATC,, visit their website for more info on climbing trips, volunteering, and more.