Women are reaching new peaks in Manhattan - on the walls of its indoor climbing gyms and on the craggy outcroppings of its natural boulders.  They have found a solid foothold in the once male-dominated sport of rock climbing.

Mountaineering seized the public’s imagination in 1786 after an expedition of climbers made the first ascent of France’s 15,771-foot Mont Blanc in 1786.  Over time, mountaineering spawned three related types of climbing - alpine, ice and rock – that have grown increasingly popular, especially among women over the last decade.

“It’s a cool way of working out,” Nicole Lewandowski, 24, said about rock climbing.  “It uses muscles you never knew you had and gives you a sense of accomplishment.”

In the late 1980s, a group of die-hard climbers brought the rugged sport of rock climbing to the urban landscape of New York City. They identified the city’s prime outdoor climbing sites, won the right to climb in city parks without permits and opened the city’s first indoor rock climbing gym. Today, there are six such sites in Manhattan.

The number of women using Manhattan’s indoor rock climbing gyms grows every year, reflecting a national trend.  The Access Fund, a national advocacy organization for climbers, estimates that there are about one million rock climbers in the United States.  Jody Radtke, program director of the Women’s Wilderness Institute in Colorado, said that approximately 30 percent of rock climbers today are women, up from about 1 percent in the 1980s.

“It’s a very good sport for women,” said Phil Erard, leader of the New York section of the American Alpine Club, a national climbing organization.   “The first thing you learn is that your arms won’t get you anywhere.  You’re positioning yourself on your feet.  Men rely too much on their upper body strength.  Women distribute their weight better and tend to be more flexible.”

On a recent Sunday afternoon, Stephanie Keer, 37, and Tara Hornung, 35, took their first climbing lesson at Manhattan Plaza Health Club’s indoor rock climbing gym, near the intersection of Tenth Avenue and 43rd Street.  The two women, who take yoga classes six days a week, met on a yoga retreat in Costa Rica.  Keer had tried some freestyle rock climbing in Costa Rica and wanted to improve.  Hornung wanted to overcome her fear of heights.  

Keer and Hornung appreciate rock climbing’s physical and mental challenges.  The sport is estimated to burn up to 700 calories an hour for a person weighing 140 pounds, up to 970 calories an hour for a person who weighs 190 pounds, and it works most muscle groups.  Rock climbing also requires problem solving skills and steely concentration. 

Janna Ostroff, 27, a science teacher at the Beacon School on the West Side, started a rock climbing club at the high school.  The 19 members, of whom nine are girls, climb twice a week.  They scale the walls at the City Climbers Club indoor rock climbing gym, near Tenth Avenue and 59th Street.  Ostroff, a marathon runner as well as a rock climber, took an indoor climbing class while she was in college at Colgate University. 

“It’s so much fun,” Ostroff said, “and a wonderful individual development sport.”

Technical improvements made over the last decade to the gear used in climbing – ropes, harnesses, carabiners (snapping links) and shoes - have made the equipment considerably lighter and the sport safer.

The most common injuries that indoor rock climbers experience are strains to the hands and arms.  The falling distance on indoor walls is limited, and the floor is usually padded.  Outdoor climbers face more risks and suffer more serious injuries, including fatalities, which are usually attributed to equipment failure, human error, or recklessness.

On the same afternoon that Keer and Hornung experimented with indoor rock climbing for the first time, Lili Schad, 46, and Holly Sumner, 53, also spent the afternoon climbing at Metropolitan Plaza Health Club’s climbing gym.

“It’s a fun way to get back in shape,” Schad said.  They discussed their ascent routes, advised each other on positioning their hands and feet, and belayed - secured with ropes - each other up and down the walls.

“Women are generally more supportive than men,” Sumner said.  “Men get mad if you’re better at rock climbing than they are.”

Bouldering, a form of climbing that requires less gear, is also gaining popularity among women. Only rock climbing shoes and chalk are needed to prevent slipping.

Lynn Hill, an American woman, set many world climbing records in the 1980s and early 1990s.  In 1993, Hill, then 32 years old, was the first person to boulder a difficult climbing route called The Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.  Fourteen years later, Hill described in a telephone interview the meaning that rock climbing has brought to her life.  “It’s a moving meditation,” she said.  “Rock climbing is a source of freedom, expression and self-discovery.”