Physical therapist hopes to prove an important point on Richmond rock climbing wall

RICHMOND, Va. — Hunter Obenchain never would have thought to try rock climbing six months ago. But, being an advocate for activity and giving testament to testing himself, Obenchain suddenly found himself climbing as much as he could, both indoors and out. What he loves about it is hard to put into one or two words.

"I mean, everything, right?" Obenchain said. "There's adrenaline. It's just so cool to do something kind of unique. It's physical and I'm a huge proponent of just doing stuff that's physical."

In his day job as a physical therapist at Chippenham Johnston-Willis Hospital, Obenchain is constantly encouraging others to practice what he preaches.

"I teach people to walk again or get them to do physical activities that they never thought they could do again," he said. "There are a ton of people out there who are wheelchair bound or have an amputation. They don't think they're able to do this sort of stuff."

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But there's a company that is out to prove them wrong.

Paradox Sports is a Colorado-based company dedicated to providing adaptive climbing opportunities that, as its website says, defy convention.

The Triangle Rock Club in Richmond came up with a way for their customers to help out Paradox and its initiatives. Climb one mile of walls in one month. The walls are either 30 or 50 feet high.

"I don't know the exact number. If you're climbing the tall walls, I think it was something around just over 100," he said.

It takes 106 climbs of the 50-foot wall and 176 climbs of the 30-foot wall to get to one mile. Divide that by 30 days in a month and that's a lot of trips up and down these walls.

"Unfortunately with life and work, I can't come every day, so typically when I'm coming I'm climbing about 30 of the short walls per day," ??? said.

Because of a planned trip, Obenchain actually finished his mile in three weeks instead of a full month. He istrying to raise $1,000 for his efforts to benefit Paradox.

He is living proof of the benefits of being active in general and taking on challenges never before thought possible regardless of any disability or obstacle.

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"When I watched people climb, I thought there's no way I could ever do that," he said. "The more I've done it, the better I've gotten. It's the same way with them. They're very intimidated to do it at first as many people are, but once you start doing it, get in the swing of things, you surround yourself with the right people, like paradox climbing, they'll show you the ropes, no pun intended."

"Looking at their face and seeing the excitement they get when they're able to do something they didn't think they could do. It's so rewarding, it's so great to see it for them."