Cornell to open New York state's first indoor adaptive high ropes course

By Bryan Chambala, Student and Campus Life

Thanks to a New York state grant and funding from the Noyes Endowment, Cornell Recreational Services is slated to open a new indoor adaptive high ropes course for the Spring 2026 semester. Located at the Noyes Recreation Center, the course adds to a robust set of accessible and inclusive resources throughout the recreation offerings at Cornell.  

The course will be the only adaptive course of its kind in New York state. Building on offerings at the outdoor high- and low-ropes course in the Cornell Team and Leader Training Center, the new adaptive course replaces the decommissioned indoor course at Barton Hall while adding equipment to allow use for people with limited mobility, including those who use a wheelchair.  

New York state’s Enhancing Supports and Services for Students With Disabilities for Postsecondary Success program provided funding for the grant. According to Emily Nester, assistant director of operations for Cornell’s Student Disability Services, the program helps degree-granting colleges and universities in NYS to enhance the supports and services they provide to their enrolled students with disabilities. Funds are allocated to SDS, which then works through resources on campus to purchase different types of equipment.

“The grant allowed us to buy a variety of adaptive ropes course gear, including a pair of harnesses that allow people with limited mobility and individuals that use a wheelchair to be seated and supported as they go up on the course elements,” said Sylvie Froncek, the Tillemans Director of the Cornell Team and Leadership Center and associate director of Cornell Outdoor Education.  

Unlike the outdoor course where participants have to climb poles and then walk across the element, most of the elements at the indoor course don't require leg use, Froncek said. Participants will be able to get up on the element or move across the element using just their hands and the support of their team below.

Construction of the course will begin early in January 2026, with the goal of having the course open twice a month. For the first year of the course, student organizations and staff members will be able to make reservations. Froncek said she also expects to hold special sessions at events like Reunion and Homecoming.

“Since the Barton course closed, we haven't been able to do any winter ropes course programming, so the motivation for building the new course was to expand our season and provide ropes course events all year round,” Froncek said. “In addition, having a backup space to use when there is extreme weather means we don't have to cancel or reschedule programs, we can just shift indoors.”

The adaptive indoor course will add to accessible resources already available throughout Cornell’s recreation and fitness offerings. Cornell Outdoor Education regularly hosts adaptive climbing classes at the Lindseth Climbing Center in Bartels Hall. Specialized equipment at the wall includes an “easy seat” to accommodate people who use wheelchairs, along with special gloves, shoes that work with prosthetic limbs and rope and pulley systems that offer more support and leverage than the typical roped belay system. Recent additions to equipment include expanded harness options with both full body and seated versions, allowing users of different sizes to be more comfortable. Staff at the wall are also trained to assist climbers with foot and hand placement and give them confidence throughout the process.  

“Getting on the wall is an empowering experience,” said Josh Giblin, Lindseth Climbing Center manager. “Like any climber, adaptive climbers have physical and mental challenges to overcome, and having success feels really good. Some of the moments I really enjoy are when caregivers get to share the experience with their loved ones, climbing alongside side them or even sometimes attached to them!”

Meghan Flack, ’25, who completed the mechanical engineering 4+1 program this spring, started working with COE in her first year at Cornell and now teaches Basic Rock Climbing, Day Hiking, Backpacking, Camping, Canoeing, and has also supported adaptive climbing. Flack’s younger sister, Maeve, has spastic quadriplegia, a severe form of Cerebral Palsy, and Meghan has coached her in Special Olympics skiing and also participated with her in adaptive soccer, running, biking, camping and hiking. Those experiences introduced her to adaptive sports and she says she, “jumped at the opportunity” to join Giblin’s adaptive climbing programs.  

“One of the things that I love about coaching adaptive sports as opposed to traditional sports is that every session is different,” said Flack. “Every athlete has their own strengths and weaknesses, both related to their disability and not. Often we as a staff team are figuring out on the fly the best way to support athletes as they are when they walk into the climbing gym. This involves talking with our athletes and their families, as well as each other, and that's where the magic of adaptive comes into play, where preparation for anything leads to everything being possible if people want to try it.”

Flack said COE staff dedicate significant time and effort to getting proficient using the adaptive equipment, and the success of the program so far demonstrates a need for the continued addition of resources.  

“While I'd had the benefit of seeing how some of the adaptive climbing equipment worked before I started working these programs, I had never used it – and these are often very technically intensive systems,” she said. “The time and patience that people have to teach each other is incredible, and the fact that in this setting it is done in the service of others makes me grateful for the community that COE has cultivated.  

“I think that it is deeply clear from the success of the adaptive climbing programs at Lindseth that there is a clear need for adaptive sports spaces here in Ithaca, and if we are able to create those spaces, that demand will follow.”

Other physical resources offered across campus include adaptive bicycles and paddling gear for PE courses, as well as all-terrain wheelchairs that can be used at the Team and Leadership Center. In addition, recreational services is also focused on inclusive offerings that make students welcomed and comfortable in rec environments. There are open swim sessions with the LGBT Resource Center, as well as a Sensory Friendly swim event during Neurodiversity Celebration Week in March.  

“We have been building the equipment library enough to be able to offer programming outside of classes similar to the adaptive climbing events,” said Chris Bode, a staff coordinator with COE. “We have already begun conversations with other groups around Ithaca to collaborate on some of these types of events in the summers.”