Giovanni (Gio) Koleshnick is a fourth-year Civil Engineering major from Freehold, NJ. He can be described as a spider, in the sense that he is an adept rock climber. In addition to being the Stevens Climbing Team founder, he is also involved in the Climbing and Mountaineering (CAM) Club and is a brother of Sigma Phi Epsilon. His hobbies include rock climbing (of course), hiking, swimming, camping, and traveling.
After his first outdoor trip to the Red River Gorge, Gio feel in love with climbing. Climbing indoors at the gym was fun, but it wasn’t until he climbed outdoors that he finally got hooked on the sport. Rock climbing has tied into his love of traveling and has allowed him to visit a number of places in nature. One of his most recent climbing trips was in Spain. He recounts that he would be out 8 hours per day and climb a few hundred meters of challenging routes. “It was fun being abroad and out of my comfort zone, and I was able to climb different styles and rock[s] than anywhere I have been in the states.” Other places Gio has climbed include Joshua Tree (CA), Red River Gorge (KY), New River Gorge (WV), Romney (NH), Red Rock Canyon (NV), as well as Siurana and Montserrat in Spain.
One may think that rock climbing is a risky sport. Gio explains that “Rock-climbing can be dangerous if you don’t give it the respect it deserves. There is a lot that can go wrong, but the risk can be mitigated if you learn about the safety aspects beforehand.” He adds, “As far as injuries, rock climbing is a lot less injury-prone [compared to] many other competitive sports. It is a lot less dangerous than it seems if you’re only slightly reckless.”
In terms of competitions, Gio has competed in a few Tristate Bouldering Series and has competed in a collegiate bouldering competition. Recently, Gio has been competing in the advanced brackets in college competitions, and he is looking forward to competing more this semester. “There should be plenty this semester for me to push myself to improve for.”
Only a few months away from graduation, Gio hopes to pursue project management and become a resident engineer and work on large-scale infrastructure projects later in life. He adds that it would also be nice to be able to have the work flexibility to do the things he loves, especially traveling. “Hopefully, I can find a good excuse to visit every continent at some point and climb around the world. Anywhere you go to will have a substantially different feeling than somewhere else in the world. Besides that, I want to get my PE in around five years or less and work toward my professional life.”
For those interested, getting started as a new climber does not require a large investment. One can easily try rock climbing through the Stevens CAM club on campus. Gio says, “Once you start climbing consistently, you’ll have to pay a little more. I’d say it isn’t that costly since getting a pair of shoes that’ll last you a year and then getting outdoors/to a gym isn’t too much of a burden. The most significant cost is the gym memberships if you stick to indoor climbing.”
Climbing is a beautiful sport. If you get the chance, check out “Free Solo,” which is this year’s Oscar-winning documentary featuring Alex Honnold, who achieves his lifelong dream of scaling El Capitan in Yosemite without a rope. The sense of passion and impeccable technique of climbing is incredible and inspirational.
For those interested, there are Stevens CAM trips on alternating Tuesdays and Wednesdays, as well as Fridays around 5 p.m. The club team practices are on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 6 p.m. onwards. If people are interested in the team, they can reach out Gio at gkoleshn@stevens.edu or Adam Testa at atesta@stevens.edu.
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