Climbable
Support Veteran Climbing!
Support the Climbable Film Project!
Climbable is a vérité documentary that brings the world of paraclimbing to life, told from within the community. It is a story about movement, identity, and what it means to lead while still healing.
At the heart of the film is Jared Lenahan, a Navy veteran, paraclimber, and four-time U.S. Paraclimbing Team athlete, who survived a devastating climbing fall during military service and spent years in recovery. After enduring surgeries, wheelchairs, and the long climb back to movement, Jared believed his journey was behind him. A recent diagnosis of traumatic brain injury shook that belief and surfaced long-buried trauma. Climbing remains his lifeline. Now, he is organizing an adaptive climbing and route setting clinic in Maryland, hoping to pass that lifeline on to others.
The film centers on this effort, not just the clinic itself but the emotional labor of building community from the inside out. It captures what climbing offers beyond competition: connection, resilience, and the quiet power of being seen.
Through the lens of adaptive route setting, we see how thoughtful design creates access. The film features elite setters, first-time climbers, and adaptive athletes navigating a world not built for them. Climbable avoids tired tropes of inspiration and instead presents disabled athletes as experts in their craft and people with depth, agency, and drive.
Climbable is the beginning of something bigger. With the right support, this story will expand into a short documentary series. Each episode will follow a different individual attending the same clinic, each with their own journey into adaptive sports. Potential participants include a member of the national paraclimbing team, a Wounded Warrior exploring climbing for the first time, a routesetter shaping inclusive climbs from the ground up, and a climber navigating Parkinson’s disease. While the stories are different, they all reflect the same truth: climbing is a container for growth, adaptation, and healing.
Last year, we raised enough support to take a group of veterans to the National Ability Center in Utah for a Paraclimbing and Adaptive Sports Camp that I created while serving as an Ambassador there. The camp brought together service members in recovery for a multi-day experience that included climbing, team-building, and adaptive outdoor adventures. For many, it was their first time trying these sports and reconnecting with a sense of purpose and possibility. That experience laid the foundation for everything Climbable has grown into today, and it showed what becomes possible when community, movement, and support come together.
Your donation will support:
- The 2025 Adaptive Route Setting Clinic at Sportrock RIO
- Filming with participating athletes, setters, and community members
- Post-production and editing
- Festival submissions and outreach campaigns
- Future episodes of the documentary series
As paraclimbing prepares for its debut at the LA28 Paralympics and adaptive sports continue to grow, Climbable captures a pivotal cultural moment with honesty and heart. This project is built from the community it represents. With your support, we can elevate voices that deserve to be heard and create a film and series that reflect the full power of inclusion.
Thank you for being part of this journey.
