At seven o'clock on some weeknights, clusters of Colby students gather near a wall next to the indoor track in the field house. It's no ordinary wall. Haphazardly scattered about its face are molded, textured appendages in various sizes and shapes, "rocks" that offer hand- and footholds for the students dangling from the College's new 27-foot climbing pitch. Students who arrive at the climbing wall tense and uptight are relaxed and upbeat after dangling by their fingers for a couple of hours above the field house floor. Climbing has been popular among Colby students for many years, but until now no formal group brought them together. For years, the Outing Club tried to sponsor climbing events but was hampered by liability problems and a lack of support. Thanks in part to the climbing wall, the sport has become a favorite pastime of a growing number of people at the College and has spawned one of the larger clubs on campus, the Colby Mountaineering Club (CMC). Development and construction of the climbing wall was largely a student enterprise. Plans were developed by Nick Lambert '96 and Mike Jewell, a climber from North Conway, N.H. Its construction was the 1995 Jan Plan project of Lambert, Soren Peters '97 and Stephen Measelle '98. The CMC was established shortly thereafter. In addition to constructing and overseeing the wall, the CMC has helped build a community of climbers. "The club provided a needed structure for climbers at Colby," said CMC member J.J. Eklund '97. "Now climbers can meet and plan larger trips. That was really tough to do before this larger network was formed." Through the CMC, climbers have become acquainted, shared experiences and planned larger expeditions to such exotic locales as Tanzania, Kenya, Equador, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, South Africa, the Canadian Arctic and Alaska. The members of the CMC currently have access to a climbing library, complete with guide books, magazines and instructional videos for a range of abilities. The club also owns a variety of equipment such as harnesses and shoes for beginner climbers. Weekly seminars offer novices basic climbing information, from belaying techniques to safety issues. In an effort to make the wall comfortable and accessible for everyone, the CMC created a women's night, offering seminars taught by women instructors for female students. Climbing neophyte Sarah DiMare '97 attended one of the seminars earlier in the year. "I was intimidated to try a sport that seems to attract a group of people for whom it is already a serious pastime, but I felt comfortable asking questions about technique and terminology. It's a great opportunity to get involved in a sport that is tough to approach," she said. The models for the CMC were the older and larger mountaineering clubs. "Places like Harvard and Dartmouth have huge clubs and lead big trips outdoors, and ultimately, climbing on rock is what climbing is all about," said current CMC president, Linsay Cochran '97. "We are such a young club, I think we have accomplished a great deal in two years." Small budgets and insurance problems make leading formal outdoors trips difficult for the CMC, an issue the club hopes to address in future years. According to Cochran, Colby has an edge over mountaineering clubs at universities because the College is close to some of the best climbing venues in New England. "Colby has a ton of climbing potential due to its location. There are so many places around here to climb--Camden, Clifton, the White Mountains. We are really lucky to be in an area like this," she said. Involvement in the CMC does not end at Colby. "The spirit of the CMC goes so far beyond what is going on at Colby. We hope that people will take all the things that they learned from the CMC and use them after they graduate," said Cochran.