36 | AUGUST 5 • 2021

N

ate Emery has an
important day com-
ing up in his young
life. His bar mitzvah will be in
January at Temple Israel in West
Bloomfield.
But he’s had a celebration of
another sort this summer.
One of the nation’s best com-
petitive rock climbers in his age
group, the 12-year-old from
Farmington Hills participated in
the USA Climbing nationals last
month in Reno, Nev., and was
thrilled to finish in the top 20 in
the sport climbing and boulder-
ing disciplines.
“My big goal for this summer
was to make it to nationals.
Then my next big goal was to get
to the semifinals at nationals in
sport climbing and bouldering. I
achieved both goals,
” he said.
Nate finished 14th in sport
climbing and 17th in bouldering
at the nationals among about 80
competitors in each discipline
despite being one of the young-

est competitors in the Male
Youth C group.
It was Nate’s third trip to
the USA Climbing nationals.
He also went to Bend, Ore., in
February 2019 and Philadelphia
in July 2019 when bouldering
and sport climbing had separate
national competitions.
There were no USA Climbing
national competitions last sum-
mer. The COVID-19 pandemic
took care of that.
The pandemic also shut
down gyms across the country
for much of last year, including
Planet Rock in Madison Heights,
Nate’s home base.
Planet Rock (where Nate’s bar
mitzvah party will be held) was
closed from mid-March until the
end of September in 2020.
There were Planet Rock
climbing team Zoom workouts
and a small climbing wall was
put up outside the gym, but it
wasn’t the same as having full-
fledged workouts and practice.

HOME WORKOUTS
Luckily, Nate was able to put in
the work he needed at home,
where a climbing gym was built
in his dad’s former home office.
“We actually started to build
the climbing gym before the
pandemic,
” said his dad, Jerrold
Emery. “The gym was expanded
during the pandemic and now is
essentially a full climbing gym.
The room is 250 square feet with
350 feet of climbing areas. I have
a new home office in what was a
spare bedroom.
”
Nate was asked if his home
climbing gym has been a help.
“Massively,
” he said. “I
wouldn’t have done so well at
nationals without it.
”
Nate competed in seven USA
Climbing COVID-safe, vid-
eo-recorded regional qualifying
events in Indiana and Ohio after
the start of the pandemic —
finishing in first place in all of
them — before he finally had an
in-person competition in June in
Morgantown, West Virgina.
He placed first in sport climb-
ing and third in bouldering in
the regional in West Virginia
and qualified for USA Climbing
nationals in both disciplines (the
top four finishers moved on).
Now that the USA Climbing
nationals are behind him,
Nate will spend time at Camp
Tamarack then head to the New
River Gorge National Park and
Preserve in West Virginia for
eight days of recreational and
practice climbing.
It’s been a grueling climb for
Nate to achieve the heights he’s
reached in the five years he’s
done competitive climbing.
But the soon-to-be sev-
enth-grader at Power Middle
School in Farmington Hills has
loved every minute of it and is
looking forward to putting in
more work.
“I love climbing more than
ever. It’s challenging and fun,
”
said the muscular 4-foot-10,

90-pounder who has a popular
Instagram account
(@nate.climbs) with videos of
his climbs.
Nate’s parents, Jerrold and
Carolyn Emery, are fully on
board with their son’s passion,
and not solely because of the
fitness and dedication that’s
required to be a nationally
known competitive climber.
“Nate has made friends from
all over the country through
climbing,
” Jerrold said.
Jerrold calls climbing a com-
munity sport, where competi-
tion and camaraderie — even
among the parents — are equally
as important. There are no
stereotypical sniping parents.
“We’re all proud of our kids
and love to share their success-
es,
” Jerrold said. “Climbing fam-
ilies see each other at competi-
tions, and we meet up when our
kids do recreational climbing at
outdoor sites.
“There isn’t a day that goes
by that I’m not in contact with
another climbing dad just to
say hello and see how things are
going.
”
Climbing is an Olympic sport
for the first time this year. The
competition is Aug. 3-6 at the
Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Forty climbers from 19 nations
are expected to compete.

Please send sports news to

stevestein502004@yahoo.com.

SPORTS

Home climbing gym
keeps Nate Emery
reaching for the stars.

Rock
Solid

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Nate Emery hangs out in
his home climbing gym.

PHOTOS BY JERROLD EMERY

Nate Emery is
laser-focused on
his next move in
the sport climbing
semifinals
at the USA
Climbing national
competition.