Amias Cook (R) with his father, Dave (L) at Rapp Rocks Climbing Gym. Amias will compete this weekend in the USA Climbing Youth National Championship in Portland, Oregon. Photo by Martin Davis

For his 10th birthday, Amias Cook’s grandmother gave him a free pass to Rapp Rocks Climbing Gym just down the road from Shannon Airport. Had she known where it would lead, she might have given it to him sooner.

In just over two years, Amias — now 12 — has gone from using his birthday gift to have a day of fun at Rapp Rocks to competing this weekend at the USA Climbing National Championship in Portland, Oregon.

Asked to explain his rapid ascent in a highly competitive sport, Amias simply said “I couldn’t stop coming” to the gym.

That answer is typical for the curly-haired young man from Caroline County, who is a master of the understatement.

To be sure, Amias’ brief answers to questions reflect a level of humility. But there’s more to him said Nic Wolfe, who owns the gym and along with his fiancé Lexi Brusby are Amias’ coaches.

He’s a person who simply “lives in the moment.”

What Do You See? Picassos, or Puzzles?

 A climbing wall at Rapp Rocks. Photo by Martin Davis

To the uninitiated, the walls that line Rapp Rocks are a Picasso — shapes and colors that are pretty to look at but bearing little likeness to anything in the world we see.

To Amias, however, the walls are a puzzle that he solves with geometric precision and an uncanny understanding of physics.

Ascending climbing walls requires three things, Wolfe told the Advance — “Physicality,” which involves one’s strength-to-weight ratio and their explosiveness; “Technical knowledge,” which includes identifying patterns and mentally understanding how to move from bottom to top; and the “mental game.”

The latter is the most difficult to teach. Wolfe says climbers have to learn to “override their fight or flight mechanism” and attack the walls with confidence. They also have to have superior critical thinking skills.

“Amias,” Wolfe said, is one of those rare individuals who “has all of these skills naturally.”

In particular, “his critical thinking skills are beyond” what someone of his age typically has.

Though he’s only been climbing walls for a couple years, he’s been climbing a lot longer. Amias’ father, Dave, told the Advance that before it was walls, it was trees.

“He grew up climbing trees” on the family’s farm, Dave said.

What looks natural, then, is also the result of a lot of hard work — albeit work as play.

Amias also loves logic games, playing chess, and similar activities. Dave says that they also play strategy games. “He’s impossible to beat.”

The young climber brings all of this to bear when he gets to competitions.

According to Dave, one can literally watch him puzzle out the path up the wall before ever putting a hand onto one of the grips in the wall.

“We have videos of him walking up to a wall and looking at it” while he is moving his hands in the space around him mimicking how he feels the climb is going to develop.

“I usually look at all the holes” in the wall, Amias said, “figuring out the hand sequencing” he will need to make the ascent. “Others,” he said, “think about the climb in terms of body positioning.

Amias’ approach leads to some creative solutions.

Wolfe is a highly experienced climber who also maps out the wall before beginning an ascent. But he says that Amias sees pathways that he, and others, don’t see.

 

Amias moves up the wall with a combination of innate understanding of physics and exceptional critical thinking skills. Photo by Martin Davis

This combination of gifts is what gives Amias the opportunity, Wolfe said, to become “an elite climber.”

On to Portland

To earn one’s way to the national championship, competitors must win first at the regional level, and then at the divisional level.

Amias competes in Region 81, which includes Virginia and Maryland. To advance to the division level, competitors must finish high enough in that competition to advance.

The division level competition was held in Philadelphia and included competitors from Region 81 and Region 82, which includes Delaware, New Jersey, the eastern half of Pennsylvania, and the western half of New York. Amias finished third in that competition, earning the right to advance.

In Portland, Amias will not only face the best climbers in the U15 group, he will do so as one of the younger competitors in the class.

Every competitor wants to win, of course, but Amias has two more years after this one to compete in this class.

His coaches know what’s possible — Amias becoming one of the sport’s elite climbers.

For Amias, it’s all about the moment.

And enjoying the ascent.