History of the Box Canyon comp

The 2025 Box Canyon Comp will take place on Saturday, Nov. 8. Locals, climbers from elsewhere in the state, and often climbers from other nearby states will gather to compete at the amazing Box Canyon. Competitors can choose to boulder or sport climb on rope for the event. I’m not going to spend much time giving info on the upcoming comp though.

I want to share a bit of the origin story of the Box Canyon Comp. I had been involved with the NMT Climbing Club on and off for many years since starting as a student at Tech in 1997. While working as a climbing instructor at Tech and teaching computers at Parkview, I eventually became the faculty advisor for the Climbing Club in the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years.

In the fall of 2013 club officers and members of the club started talking about hosting our own bouldering comp. We had been to a few comps in other locations, so why not have our own at Box Canyon? Box Canyon has plenty of great climbing to offer for a competition. Previously, a few locals had made a very informal comp at the Box, but nothing really came of it.

It took a while to get the idea going beyond just a lot of talk, but when Tech resumed in January of 2014 some people came back really motivated. The logistics were quite extensive to make this event happen. We created a flyer to make it seem real. We created a mini-guidebook that served as the scorecard. Those were relatively easy; we could do those parts on our own.

One big challenge was getting the special recreation permit for an event from the Bureau of Land Management. The club would cover the cost of the permit, but proof of insurance is needed to get the permit. So, we talked to the NMT Gym and then the higher ups at Tech to ask them to sponsor the event officially. Tech agreed, that covered the insurance portion of the permit, and Tech became the biggest sponsor of the event.

Another task was finding more sponsors to support a brand new comp. We emailed companies and talked to local businesses. We ended up with over $1,300 in donated items that would be prizes for the winners and some items to be raffled off. The Cap hooked us up with shirts for our volunteers.

We named the first comp Box’s Own Bouldering (B.O.B.) Bash and it took place on April 5, 2014. It was a free entry comp; participants just had to sign our waiver. Over 80 people signed up for the comp, and it seemed as though we had 20 plus spectators throughout the day.

We offered a meal of burgers, hot dogs, and so on after the competition for $5 a plate. Volunteers helped with the grills on that too. There was a pull-up contest on a donated cannonball climbing hold, with that hold being the prize for the winner. Comp winners were announced, prizes were chosen, and the extra items were raffled off.

We had done a clean-up the day before to be sure Box looked nice for the visitors, and we also did a clean-up the day after to be sure we left our beloved Box looking beautiful after. The Climbing Club had a volunteer contract with the BLM to be stewards of the Box Recreation Area at the time.

Our first comp was in the books. Various NMT Climbing Club members have taken the lead over the years to keep the comp going. Rope climbing was added along the way, and the event has been in November for a few years now. Some things change, the climbing spirit is mostly the same.

If you want to know how to sign up or just find more info on this year’s comp, you can check the NMT info page for the event: nmt.edu/physrec/boxcanyon.php

There is an Instagram page for the NMT Climbing Club too with a flyer: @nmtclimbing

Also know that it is on public land and that you can go be a spectator for any or all of it at no cost. Go check it out to see what it’s all about, if you aren’t already entering in the comp.