MOUNTAIN LIFE - Blue Mountains | Fall 2018

68 ML BLUE FALL 2018 “I started climbing when I was a baby, around 11 months old,” explains Lily Kenbur, a quietly confident Grade 3 student from Collingwood. “My parents used to put stuffed animals higher up on the climbing wall and I’d go get them,” she smiles. Lily is a second-year member of the competitive climbing team based out of Climbers Corner in Collingwood. Her father, Trevor Kenopic, is the coach of the team while her mother Sarah Burke is an avid climber as well as an accomplished skipper and the race director of the Collingwood Yacht Club. Lily shows me around the basement room that’s been converted into a climbing den. There are holds on every surface of the room, including the ceiling, and even a little hidey hole you can climb into by the window—an obvious kid’s favourite. Lily can navigate the entire circumference of the room without touching the ground and still have her smile firmly in place. “Climbing is fun and I do competitions,” explains Lily. “I have lots of friends who climb too. I feel excited when I’m at the competitions. It’s exciting to go.” Her dad explains that climbing competitions at her age are all about exceeding individual goals. “In her division they don’t do a first, second and third,” explains Kenopic. “It’s all about personal achievement. There are five routes and on the certificate, it shows how many you topped and how many you attempted. It’s more like real climbing—‘what did I accomplish and did I do better than the last time?’” At Lily’s age, the team trains once a week at Climbers Corner, but her family gets out locally and has also done many climbing trips further afield. “I like to go to Metcalfe Rock,” explains Lily when asked about her favourite local spots. “I like the White of Spring climb. I also did one that was a 5.10 at Old Baldy that I really liked back in June.” Lily and her family have travelled to California, where they climbed in Yosemite, as well as Nevada. This fall they are travelling to Greece, Croatia, Italy, Spain and France. Kenopic says the number of girls at climbing competitions is on the rise. “It depends on the division but it seems to be more popular with girls,” explains Kenopic. “Some of the girls’ divisions are twice as big as the boys’.” Lily Kenbur AGE: SEVEN SPORTS OF CHOICE: COMPETITIVE CLIMBING, SAILING, GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING, BIKING Lily Kenbur hanging out in her basement climbing den in Collingwood. ALLISON KENNEDY DAVIES