A nice walk along some beautiful trail on Hamilton Boulevard just before the roundabout brought you to a lovely pond. As you continued past the water, a small clearing opened with high cliff faces.

It was there you could find the Rock Garden Party on Saturday.

At the bottom of the cliffs, the climbers gathered, from young to old, all harnessed and waiting their turn to take a crack at the rock face.

Those climbing, moved deliberately up the cliff, searching for their next foothold and a spot to grip with their hands. On the ground, their support who was roped to them, offered them advice, as they were able to see grooves in the rocks from down below.

The Rock party was open to anybody and the equipment was provided. Climb Yukon, Yukon Climbing Access Society, and Alpine Club members were on hand to assist with the ascent.

“Those are some of the easier climbs but as you go right they get harder,” said organizer Samantha Li. “We want it to be inclusive so there is a wall for everybody.

The Rock Garden Party started in 2014 by Coast Mountain Sports and this year was held by Climb Yukon.

Li, said the Rock Gardens are one of the regular spots for rock climbing in the area, with lots of beautiful trails to access them.

The party saw over 100 climbers throughout the day.

“We had 30-40 at the walls at one time,” said Li. “There is a huge rock climbing community here and we saw some new kids and new faces. We had lots of good feedback and have good momentum going forward.”

With the growing rock climbing community in the territory, Li said Climb Yukon put forth a feasibility study in 2016 to work toward getting an indoor rock climbing facility in the city.

In 2015, there were five climbing walls identified in the city but they were built in schools for educational purposes and limited to student use during school hours.

Climb Yukon desires a facility that is accessible to the community during the weekdays, evenings and weekends.

Li said the study received 1,427 signatures of people in favour of Whitehorse getting an indoor rock climbing facility.

The study also pointed out that rock climbing is a growing sport throughout Canada and the world and is one of the newest sports introduced at the Olympics for Tokyo 2020.

With winter looming, Climb Yukon is moving indoors to Porter Creek Secondary for their drop-in climbing sessions on Monday and Wednesdays which begin next week.