From teaching math to joining the U.S. National Paraclimbing team: A Q&A with Professor Dylan Retsek

Cal Poly math professor Dylan Retsek secured a spot on the U.S. National Paraclimbing Team. A year ago, Retsek was an avid recreational climber, but after a chance meeting with paraclimbing champion Maureen Beck, he felt inspired to join the U.S. National Team. 

He began more intense training that involved three hour climbing sessions every week, core conditioning and stretching three times a week and weights twice a week. Retsek said the tryout process was nonexistent due to so few people nationwide participating in each category. After attending a training camp for the team, he decided to compete.

This summer, he’s heading to Salt Lake City, Utah; Innsbruck, Austria; and Arco, Italy, to compete in the world championships.

Mustang News and KCPR reporter Mckenna Rodriguez and Mustang News reporter Madison Vernon sat down with Retsek to learn more about how he got involved with climbing and what inspired him to try out for the national team.

This Q&A was edited lightly for clarity.

Rodriguez: How did you get involved in climbing?

Retsek: It started, I think, with hiking and camping with the family. When you have little kids and you go on a long hike, sometimes they’re not super into it. And at one point, we’re on a long hike in Yosemite and the kids were sort of fading a little bit. We stumbled upon this giant boulder and they just played on it for hours. We came back to town and we found [the PAD SLO] and it was very homespun. It was a nonprofit, a co-op, and members just took care of it. We just loved that place and our kids grew up climbing there. We got more and more into it just by going with them. It just started with the kids and then it’s just grown from there.

Rodriguez: I read on an Instagram post from the Performing Arts Center page that you attended a speaking event at the PAC last year with a world famous paraclimber and it changed your life. Can you tell me more about that experience?

Retsek: It’s no exaggeration. There’s this really famous paraclimber named Maureen Beck, and everyone calls her Mo. She’s kind of the OG. She has done incredible outdoor climbs. She’s won ten national championships– she’s just sort of the pinnacle of the paraclimbing thing. National Geographic caught wind of this and sent her on a speaking tour. One of the stops on that tour was at our Performing Arts Center on campus at Cal Poly. 

I saw on the marquee, ‘Oh, Mo Beck is coming, I should definitely go to that.’ And then I thought kind of, just on a whim, I thought well I’ll get on social media and send her a message and see if she wants to go for a climb. I mean we have one thing in common, maybe she wants to come for a climb. I thought she would not answer, and she answered immediately. She was like ‘Hell yeah let’s go.’

And so we made a date to meet [at the PAD SLO] and climb. We climbed a bit and she said to me, ‘Where have you been hiding?’ I didn’t know what she meant. I thought, ‘Well I don’t know, I’ve just been in San Luis Obispo teaching math. What do you mean?’ She said, ‘No, you’re good at this. You should compete. You have a chance at making the national team.’

I thought she was being polite or whatever. I kind of didn’t give it a second thought but she was persistent and convinced me. That was about a year ago. I started thinking about that seriously and training a little harder, and I made the national team. Now there’s world championships coming up over the summer. If I hadn’t sent that message to her on Instagram I would have just gone to the talk and thought ‘Oh that’s cool,’ and we totally would not be having this conversation right now.

Rodriguez: What does training for you look like?

Retsek: It’s a combination of things. It’s a ton of climbing, like lots and lots of hours of climbing- probably 12 or 15 hours a week. And then on non-climbing days it’s more like conditioning stuff: core, lifting some weights, a little bit of cardio and just trying to hone the non-climbing side of fitness. It’s probably six days a week total, and most of that is just climbing.

Rodriguez: How do you balance being a paraclimber, professor, husband and father?

Retsek: It’s a lot, but it’s all because of other people. My family is super supportive, my friends are super supportive. I couldn’t do it without my wife and kids, they hold down the fort at home. They think it’s cool that I’m going for it and I just feel really lucky to be in that position.

Rodriguez: Is there anything else you want to add?

Retsek: You’re never done becoming whatever you’re going to become. At 50, and with a job and a life and a sort of regular middle aged existence, here’s this thing that presented itself. I’m going to visit three places I’ve never been and I’m going to do something so fun and so challenging. You can’t think that it’s ever over. You’re always exploring and always finding that new thing.

To keep up with Retsek and his climbing journey, updates can be found on his Instagram