Paradox Sports

At least 100,000 amputees.

That is the current estimate for Ukraine from the Superhumans Center, as recently reported by The New York Times. Behind that number are people rebuilding strength, identity, relationships, and daily life while Russia’s war continues.

Medical care, prosthetics, and rehabilitation are essential. So are places where someone can be a climber, teammate, and leader—not only a patient.

Climbing cannot undo what happened. It can create challenge, trust, problem-solving, and community. That is why this work matters now.

Please share this post to help more people understand the role adaptive sports can play. Learn more: https://www.paradoxsports.org/ukraine-adaptive-climbing-initiative/



Images: https://war.ukraine.ua/imagebank/, Stacey Chen, Paradox collection

We’re going to Ukraine to help launch an adaptive climbing program. The goal: Make sure they can keep it going without us.

From August 2–6, Paradox will work alongside Ukrainian climbers in Ivano-Frankivsk and Kamianets-Podilskyi, training roughly 20 instructors and climbing with roughly 20 Veterans with disabilities.

We’ll share adaptive systems, disability awareness, risk management, and program-building tools developed over nearly 20 years. Ukrainian climbers and Veterans will shape them for their communities and carry the work forward.

Five days is the starting hold, not the summit.

Learn more and support the Ukraine Adaptive Climbing Initiative here https://www.paradoxsports.org/ukraine-adaptive-climbing-initiative/

With Razom for Ukraine Petzl The North Face

This August, a four-person Paradox Sports team will travel to western Ukraine to help launch a five-day adaptive climbing training for Ukrainian climbers and Veterans with disabilities.

In partnership with Razom for Ukraine, and with support from Ukrainian climbing leaders, Second Wind, and Petros, we will work with roughly 20 instructors and 20 Veterans in Ivano-Frankivsk and Kamianets-Podilskyi.

The goal is not to run one meaningful week and come home. The goal is to help develop a cadre of Ukrainian adaptive climbing instructors who can teach, adapt, improvise, and build programs long after we leave.

We’ll share what Paradox has learned over nearly 20 years of adaptive climbing: adaptive systems, equipment strategies, Veteran programming, risk management, and how to build climbing communities where people with disabilities are partners, not passengers.

There will be much more to share soon — about our partners, the need for adaptive recreation and community among Ukrainian Veterans, the training itself, and what comes next.

For now, we’re deeply honored to be invited into this work.

Razom for Ukraine has committed $8,000 to help make this possible, and Paradox is working to match that support. Additional gifts will help us bring and donate adaptive climbing equipment, cover emergency insurance and travel costs, and build the foundation for future work with Ukrainian partners.

Support the Ukraine Adaptive Climbing Training Program: https://secure.qgiv.com/for/ukraine2026/

Razom for Ukraine

We're in the final hours of our Adaptive Advocates campaign.

Adaptive Advocates provide steady support for the community that makes Paradox possible: climbers, volunteers, facilitators, partners, and friends who believe adaptive climbing belongs everywhere.

Your support helps people with disabilities find more than a route to climb. It helps them find confidence, connection, and community.

Become an Adaptive Advocate by the end of today and you’ll be entered to win a prize package from The North Face Universal Collection. Supporters at $25/month or more will also receive a Paradox hat.

Thank you for helping keep climbers moving all year long.

https://secure.qgiv.com/for/2pcpis

Photos: Tristan Blommer Photography, Alex Kosseff, Becky Lindstrom, Sam Sala, Derek Riemer collection, Becky Lindstrom

North Face

Paradox is not just a climbing organization. It’s a community.

It’s the people who climb together, sit around a campfire, carpool to remote crags, swap beta, share meals, and help each other imagine what’s possible.

Adaptive Advocates help make that community stronger by providing steady support for programs, facilitator training, and the behind-the-scenes logistics that get people with disabilities climbing.

There are just two days left to become an Adaptive Advocate and be entered to win a prize package from The North Face Universal Collection, designed with input from Paradox athletes.

And if you commit at $25/month or more, we’ll send you a Paradox hat in July.

Become an Adaptive Advocate by July 1 and help make adaptive climbing possible all year long.

https://secure.qgiv.com/for/2pcpis

The North Face

PC: Sam Sala

"It's not just a climbing organization. It's a community."

That's how Derek Riemer describes Paradox Sports.

When Derek joined Paradox after the pandemic, he found much more than people to climb with. He found climbing partners, camping buddies, lifelong friends, and a community that assumes what's possible.

We recently sat down with Derek to talk about his journey, what community means to him, and why Paradox has become such an important part of his life.

Read his story here:
https://www.paradoxsports.org/more-than-climbing-a-conversation-with-derek-riemer/

If Derek's story resonates with you, consider becoming an Adaptive Advocate. Your monthly support helps create the experiences, friendships, and opportunities that make stories like Derek's possible.

Become an Adaptive Advocate by July 1 to be entered to win a prize package from The North Face's new Universal Collection. Monthly supporters at $25 or more will also receive a Paradox hat.

Derek Riemer

Photos: Sam Sala, Tristan Blommer Photography, Stacey Chen

The North Face

Paradox climbers and programs are crushing it! Demand is real. The impact is clear.

But the reality is that costs have gone up, several traditional funding sources have decreased, and the old funding playbook isn’t enough anymore.

We’re already operating lean, getting creative, and working hard to make every dollar go further. But there’s a limit to doing more with less. At some point, we need to do more with more. Wild concept, we know.

That’s why we’re building Adaptive Advocates: a community of monthly donors who provide reliable, predictable support for adaptive climbing.

Monthly gifts help us plan ahead, keep programs financially accessible, train adaptive climbing facilitators, and create more opportunities for people with disabilities to experience climbing and community.

If 70 people give $25/month, we’ll exceed our $20,000 Adaptive Advocate goal.

Become an Adaptive Advocate and help make adaptive climbing possible all year long.

https://secure.qgiv.com/for/2pcpis

P.S. Adaptive Advocates are entered to win a prize package from The North Face Universal Collection, and donors at $25+/month receive a Paradox hat.

Every climbing partnership starts with trust.

At Paradox Sports, monthly donors provide that same steady support for adaptive climbers across the country. We call them Adaptive Advocates.

Over the next few weeks, we'll share more about how recurring gifts help create climbing opportunities, train facilitators, and strengthen our community.

As a thank-you, everyone who becomes an Adaptive Advocate by July 1 will be entered to win a prize package from The North Face Universal Collection, designed with input from Paradox athletes.

Join us and help make adaptive climbing possible all year long.

https://secure.qgiv.com/for/2pcpis

The North Face

Attention! Due to winter weather predicted tomorrow through Wednesday this week, we're pivoting our local outdoor night indoors to Movement Englewood, 6:00p-8p.

Take it from Paradox board member snow while ice climbing? NBD! Snow while rock climbing? Eww, gross.

ID: a mustached climber in an acid green jacket waves at the camera from atop a route while blurred and shrouded by heavy falling snow. His face appears to show he is not stoked about the weather. He's probably thinking "these conditions are bombed out."