About WHSCL
The Wisconsin High School Climbing League gives high school students an alternative to conventional athletics: a sport where you compete against the wall and your own last attempt, alongside a team that gets you there.
Mission
The WHSCL provides a fun and welcoming environment, encourages an active lifestyle, builds social bonds, and promotes a love for the sport of rock climbing to high school students across the state of Wisconsin through competitions and weekly practices.
Core values
The WHSCL has been and always will be a welcoming environment for all Wisconsin high school students, regardless of race, religion, political belief, social status, gender, sexuality, or ability. That environment is built by the collective of coaches and by every student.
Physical fitness is central to climbing and demands real dedication. Because every student climbs at a different difficulty, each is encouraged to find an individual plan that matches their goals — ideally one that outlasts high school.
A welcoming team leads to social bonds. The goal is not only teammates but friends. Climbing looks like an individual sport, but students rely on each other on and off the wall.
Climbing is a lifelong activity, not just a sport. Some students gravitate to top rope, others to bouldering. Whichever discipline appeals, the aim is enjoyment of the sport as a whole.
Guiding principles
Climbing carries real risk. The league prioritizes education, supervision, and safety protocols at all times.
We treat ourselves and others, our spaces, and our rules with dignity and care.
We compete with integrity, celebrate effort, support others, and show grace in victory and defeat.
We welcome climbers of all backgrounds, abilities, and identities.
We hold ourselves accountable for our actions on and off the wall.
History
The league began as a marketing internship project and grew into a statewide organization spanning four climbing companies, two school walls, and three regions.
1998
The Brookfield gym opens on February 16th.
2009
Andy Miers founds the WHSCL through a UW–Milwaukee marketing internship with Adventure Rock. Three teams, about 30 students.
2016
Adventure Rock’s second location opens June 18th, putting climbing within reach of Milwaukee-area schools.
2017
The inaugural State Finals closes the 2016–2017 season on May 12th with 95 students from 13 teams.
2020
Adventure Rock Walker’s Point, a dedicated bouldering gym, opens August 25th.
2023
Odyssey Climbing + Fitness Green Bay opens February 6th — the first WHSCL facility outside Adventure Rock — adding Northeast Wisconsin as a region. An official Handbook and Rulebook arrive that fall, and High School Hangouts begin.
2024
Odyssey Green Bay hosts its first competition in March. A web-based scoring app launches for the 2024–2025 season. Climb @ the Loop joins from Burlington, and Greater Heights opens in Madison on December 2nd.
2025
Odyssey Climbing + Fitness opens a second location in Appleton on September 13th, and the league introduces its Code of Conduct.
2026
Odyssey Appleton hosts its first competition in January. Growth pushes the league to split into Conference A and Conference B so more students can compete.
2027
Greater Heights hosts its first WHSCL competition on February 6th.
League organizers
League Director
Lizzy Beach
Adventure Rock
Director of Routesetting
Tony Brengosz
Adventure Rock
Regional Coordinator — Northeast Wisconsin
Ben Ganther
Odyssey Climbing + Fitness
Regional Coordinator — South Central Wisconsin
Dayton Henriksen
Greater Heights Climbing Gym
Where we climb
Nine practice locations across Southeast, Northeast, and South Central Wisconsin host WHSCL teams and competitions.
Get involved
Coaches do not need climbing experience. The league provides the structure, the gyms provide the instruction, and the Director helps you launch.