Paradox Sports Competitive Climbing Team
OVERVIEW
As we continue to empower individuals and create community, we are excited to announce the 3rd year of the Paradox Sports adaptive climbing comp team! Paradox Sports is proud to support a competitive paraclimbing team. As outlined in our newest Strategic Plan, our focus of expanding opportunities through investing in people and program growth has led us to create this opportunity. We thank our community for helping identify this opportunity as a priority, and we couldn’t be more excited to continue supporting a Competitive Climbing Team.
MEET THE TEAM
Carlos Quiles
Carlos Quiles
Carlos Quiles
Born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico and raised in Connecticut, Carlos competes in the AL-1 classification and has been climbing since 2014. He was introduced to rock climbing through a local clinic put on by Nate McKenzie and competed at his first US Paraclimbing Nationals in 2018. In 2022, Carlos had the highlight of his competitive career when he placed first at the US Paraclimbing National Championships held in Birmingham, AL and placed 4th at the IFSC World Cup in Salt Lake City, UT. When he’s not climbing, Carlos spends time playing wheelchair basketball for the Connecticut Spokebenders, working full time at Hospital for Special Care in New Britain, CT, and cuddling his dog Winter.
Carlos has competed in the following International Competitions:
2018 IFSC Paraclimbing World Championships – Innsbruck, Austria
2019 IFSC Paraclimbing World Championships – Briancon, France
2021 IFSC Paraclimbing World Cup – Los Angeles, CA
2022 IFSC Paraclimbing World Cup – Salt Lake City, UT
Nat Vorel
Nat Vorel
Nat Vorel
Nat Vorel is a walking paraplegic from Oklahoma City, OK. Almost five years ago, Nat took a 30 foot groundfall, breaking multiple vertebrae as well as a wrist. Nat quickly got back into climbing after relearning how to walk, and has been training hard ever since. This is Nat’s fourth year competing in paraclimbing competitions. Nat has earned a first place finish in RP3 at USAC Nationals, a fourth place finish at the SLC World Cup, a first place finish in Salt Lake City and Innsbruck, Austria, a National Championship gold, and a first place finish at the Canadian Para Nationals. In addition to competing, Nat also is a Level 1 Certified Routesetter and works professionally as a setter for Summit Climbing Gyms. Nat is working toward earning a Single Pitch Instructor Certification with the AMGA.
Lindsay Purcell
Lindsay Purcell
Lindsay Purcell
Lindsay grew up in Kingwood, Texas spending all her free time playing soccer around the state. While attending The University of Oklahoma, she missed competing in athletics and walked on to the OU Women’s Rowing team and won a Big 12 Gold medal in her first year competing. With all the stress of college and rowing she noticed a decline in her body’s strength, was forced to quit rowing, and finally got the diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) at age 21.
At age 36, Lindsay is looking at competing in her fourth US Nationals competition. Lindsay found the podium and made the National Team for the last two years and is vying for another spot on the team this year. With this year being a World Championship year, Lindsay is hoping to compete in Seoul, South Korea as well as the entire World Cup circuit.
Lindsay has been married to her husband, Nick, for twelve years and has a 3.5 year old son and two dogs. She works full time, moms full time, and her hobby is climbing. She would not be this far in the Paraclimbing dream if it weren’t for the support of Nick, her family, and her climbing coach. Lindsay’s proudest climbing moment was topping her first World Cup route in Arco, Italy and having her husband, son, parents, and climbing coach there to witness and celebrate with her.
Tanner Cislaw
Tanner Cislaw
Tanner Cislaw
Tanner grew up in Southern California playing soccer and bodysurfing, while participating in almost every sport and outdoor activity that one can imagine. In March of 2018, Tanner was involved in a hiking accident which resulted in a T-10 spinal cord injury and lower-body paralysis. During his physical rehabilitation, per the recommendation of his PT, Tanner was encouraged to try paraclimbing for the first time at 5 months post-injury. Soon after, he attended two Paradox Sports adaptive climbing clinics which gave him the confidence and drive to pursue a competitive outlet. Within his first year of recovery, Tanner competed and won his first national title in Columbus, Ohio in 2019.
Almost 5 years later, Tanner has been on the podium at two World Championships and one World Cup, and won two U.S. national championships in the seated category. With this year’s international circuit coming up this summer, Tanner’s goal is to earn his first gold medal on the world stage. While in Europe, Tanner plans to push his personal boundaries by working on a number of outdoor projects that will redefine what seated climbers can do.
Tanner recently moved to Salt Lake City, Utah to train consistently at USA Climbing’s Training Center and put time into outdoor projects that are more conducive to his style of climbing.
Carlie Cook
Carlie Cook
Carlie Cook
Carlie grew up in Michigan but currently lives in Western Massachusetts. Carlie has always been active and loved sports. As a young child, she participated in the family sport of figure skating, but after sustaining a spinal cord injury at the age of 3.5, she remained active and got involved with adaptive sports. Over the years, Carlie participated in many adaptive sports, including collegiate wheelchair basketball for the Univerisity of Illinois. After graduating from college, Carlie attended an adaptive climbing clinic in Chicago and instantly fell in love with the sport and hasn’t looked back.
In 2017, Carlie got involved in the competitive side of adaptive climbing when she attended her first Nationals in Boston. After Carlie competed in just one competition, she fell in love with the challenge of competitive climbing and the community that came with the sport. Since Boston, Carlie has had the following Paraclimbing competitive experiences:
-5 USA Paraclimbing National Championships
-2 World Championships (Innsbruck, Austria 2018 and Briancon, France 2019)
-2 World Cups (Los Angeles, California 2021 and Salt Lake City, Utah 2022)
When Carlie is not climbing, you can find her spending time with her family, working as a Child Life Specialist in a Pediatric ER, and trying new coffee places.
