President Trump proclaimed a section of border fencing near Tijuana, Mexico, to be “impossible to climb,” inspiring rock climbers to launch a competition to see if the 18-foot fencing could be scaled.
Speaking at the southern border in September, Trump claimed that “championship mountain climbers” had been unable to scale a portion of “double wall” meant to fortify an area known for a high volume of illegal crossings.
“People aren’t even coming up,” the president said of the efficacy of the reinforced barrier. “You see the numbers are going way down, and we’re not doing a catch and release anymore.”
Mountain climbers, however, were not so sure that the president’s claims rang true.
“Many in the climbing community were amused a couple weeks ago when our POTUS held a press conference at a section of his latest border wall design — a series of parallel square steel posts with a 5-foot-high plate at the top,” wrote avid rock climber Rick Weber, 75, on the “Rock & Ice” website.
Weber recounted the president’s words from a press conference a few weeks ago as being somewhat eyebrow-raising to rock climbers.
“‘Impossible to climb,’ he [Trump] stated. He boasted that ‘the federal government tested the structure by having 20 skilled mountain climbers attempt to climb it, and no one could,'” recalled Weber.
“No one in our climbing community knows any of these 20 mountaineers,” Weber said. “I doubt if they exist. More importantly, to declare something to be impossible to climb to a bonafide rock climber is to issue a challenge.”
The challenge to Weber was to reconstruct a portion of border fencing that resembles much of what is being constructed at the southern border and invite climbers to come attempt what was declared “impossible.”
“The configuration and design is dimensionally identical to the 18-foot version of the bollard wall (vertical steel square columns) now being erected along our southern border,” Weber described. “With volunteer help from a few climber friends, I built and erected the section of wall over a four day period.”
Weber, a former engineer, described that several categories of competition will be laid out over a two-day period.
“Prizes and trophies will be awarded,” he promised as a final call for competition.
The event will take place on Oct. 11 and 12 on Weber’s property, which is in the Red River Gorge region of Eastern Kentucky.
