UNC rock climber becomes the second woman to complete difficult route

Junior Kerry Scott became just the second female rock climber to complete the rock climb route Proper Soul at New River Gorge in West Virginia on Sunday.

Proper Soul is ranked 5.14a in difficulty. The hardest climbing route completed in the world is a 5.15c.

“It was an unreal experience,” Scott said.

Scott, who is also the president and co-founder of the Carolina Climbing Club, said she has been working on accomplishing Proper Soul since her former coach, Will Anglin, suggested she try it in her first year at UNC.

Anglin said he was excited to hear Scott completed the climb. The route — over 110 feet with difficult moves and sections to maneuver — has not been completed by many people, he said.

Scott said the climb was too hard for her when she first tried it, but during her sophomore year she decided to get serious about completing the climb.

Scott said she tried the route a couple of times on Sunday, and when she finally worked past the one place she kept falling, she did it.

“I got on it one last time and did it,” she said. “I got to the top and was like ‘how did this happen?’ It was very unreal.”

Carolyn Tiller, a sophomore in the Carolina Climbing Club and friend of Scott’s, said Scott was in total disbelief that she had completed this climb.

“She was so excited,” Tiller said. “It wasn’t only a huge accomplishment for her and the UNC climbing community, but for climbers in general. Not many people in the world can climb a 5.14a and she is only the second woman ever to climb that particular route.”

Scott said completing Proper Soul was a dream come true.

“A lot of climbers dream of climbing a 5.12, some get up to 5.13, and me dreaming about a 5.14 is something I never would’ve imagined I would accomplish when I was a kid, “ she said.

Scott said she has been climbing since she was three years old, getting her start climbing the rock walls at Dick’s Sporting Goods with her dad and brother on the weekends. At age ten, she started climbing competitively in her hometown in Maryland, where Anglin was her coach.

Anglin said even as a kid, Scott was very self-motivated.

“I’ve coached a lot of kids and one of the things that not very many kids have that Kerry did have is not getting discouraged,” he said. “She had that from a very young age. Day after day, she was willing to try even if she couldn’t do something.”

That quality in Scott proved itself this weekend.

“Climbing Proper Soul and climbing a 5.14 has been the big goal that I wanted to accomplish in my life and I didn’t think I would do it this fast,” Scott said. “So now I have to come up with a bigger goal.”

Anglin said he is looking forward to seeing what Scott will accomplish next and watching her realize her capability as a climber.

Scott said she is excited for what the future has in store for her.

“Being a female who has done it means a lot to me as well,” she said. “I’m really big on women in the sport. It means a lot to me that I could be the reason that women are psyched about being in the sport.”

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