Climbing Connects South Dakota Mines Community with Hill City Students

For climbers, the sport is about more than scaling rock walls. It’s about the camaraderie, trust, teamwork and bonds built through shared challenges. Those connections recently brought together the South Dakota Mines Hardrocker Climbing Club and a group of students from Hill City High School.

Jeremiah LeTourneau, an avid climber and Hill City High School math teacher, brought his climbing class to the Mines campus to speak with Ethan Brown, a civil engineering major, recent graduate and president of the Hardrocker Climbing Club. Brown shared how he first got involved in climbing before giving the students a chance to test their skills on the university’s climbing wall.

“The club is always looking for ways to be more involved in the Black Hills climbing community, so we were happy to help out,” Brown said.

The visit was part of a unique physical education course LeTourneau introduced two years ago. The class was inspired by Hill City High School Principal Todd Satter, who wanted students to experience a different approach to PE beyond the traditional curriculum. Knowing LeTourneau’s background in climbing, Satter encouraged him to bring that passion into the classroom.

LeTourneau, who has been climbing for a decade, started on the small crags of Minnesota, but has since accomplished climbing 10 Big Walls, six of which have been on El Capitan, a 3,000-foot vertical rock face in Yosemite National Park.

The Hill City climbing class is part of a new physical education class LeTourneau introduced a few years ago.

“Hill City is placed right in the center of some of the best granite climbing the country has to offer and he believed that our students should get a taste of what the sport has to offer,” LeTourneau said.

The response from students has been overwhelmingly positive.

“I often get from students that rock climbing is their favorite part of the day,” LeTourneau said adding that students have extending their learning into a new climbing hobby outside of the class.

For Brown, LeTourneau and the Hill City students, the experience highlighted how climbing can be a great connector.

“I wanted students to be able to connect with people, faces and spaces that South Dakota Mines has to offer,” LeTourneau said. “I wanted them to realize all of the other great opportunities that the school has to offer other than traditional academics.”

Brown said the students arrived having a strong foundation in traditional climbing, including technique, rope skills and climbing ethics.

“Jeremiah is such an interesting guy and a true climbing veteran,” Brown said. “Hill City is very lucky to have him teaching a climbing class at their school. The students were also awesome. They knew how to have fun, while also being respectful to their teacher.”

Brown hopes the visit will become an annual tradition. “I hope Jeremiah continues to partner with the climbing club on opportunities like this,” he said. “It could be a fun tradition to have their class visit campus every semester or to even do some outdoor climbing with them.”

LeTourneau plans to continue expanding Hill City’s physical education offerings hoping to add fly fishing, canoeing and mountain biking in the future. “I want to help students experience all of the great outdoor athletic experiences our great Black Hills has to offer.”