Maureen Beck, Colorado's paraclimbing juggernaut, gearing up for one last climb in 2028 games

Retirement did not last very long for paraclimbing juggernaut Maureen Beck.

She's a highly decorated paraclimber, Nat Geo Adventurer of the Year, and more recently, actor Orlando Bloom's climbing instructor, and calls Broomfield’s G1 Climbing + Fitness her home gym.

After her most recent bout of competitions, which saw Beck win her tenth straight nationals this March, she decided to hang up the chalk and climbing shoes.

“It's a lot more fun to be cheery with a beer in hand than to be stressed out competing," Beck said. "For a while I would do competitions just so there were enough people to do it, just so the community could keep moving forward.”

Beck was born without a left hand.

When Beck won her first world championship, she was one of three competitors. Now, adding “I don't have to do that anymore. In my category of women, upper limb amputees, there's like 15 to 20 now at all of the world level events,” Beck said.

Things would change in June, however, when the International Paralympic Committee decided to include paraclimbing in the 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles.

Beck always told herself she would unretire if it meant competing in the Paralympic Games.

“If it’s a clear path, I’ll have to unretire and do it,” she said.

While question marks remain over the amount of medals and categories to be included, Beck seems certain she's ready.

Still coming off of her short-lived foray into retirement, Beck plans to work on personal projects in outdoor climbing and other individual goals in the mountains outside of her standard and rigorous training until late 2025, before dialing her focus back into competing.

“I'm glad I'm taking a couple years off so I'm not doing the full Tom Brady, the retire, then a month later come back,” Beck said jokingly.

Beck’s own star has grown in tandem with the sport she has long been a champion for.

She was recently featured in Orlando Bloom’s new Peacock adventure series, ‘Orlando Bloom: To the Edge,’ where she instructed the actor from how to tie into a harness properly to climbing a 400 foot pinnacle in Moab, Utah.

“This is a thousand percent do not fall territory. (Bloom) has kids, so I’m going to make sure he knows all the risks,” Beck said in the trailer.

Beck, known for bringing whiskey along to alpine and backcountry adventures, also recently started an ambassadorship with TINCUP Mountain Whiskey, creating several signature cocktails for the brand.

Beck’s ‘coq au tin,’ a play on the French dish ‘coq au vin,’ is an elevated whiskey sour with an Olympic-colored berry garnish and frothed egg white. Beck owns several chickens and said she “got to incorporate my love of competition in sports and my pet chickens.”

Beck learned many of paraclimbing’s nuances on her own.

She finds the sports’ advancements in participation, coaching and recognition a welcome, but overdue in development.

“[In the Front Range] we're in a bit of a gym bubble, but it's never been easier for someone to just walk into a climbing gym and try rock climbing,” she said.

With paraclimbing’s boom in recent years behind a new generation of climbers pushing the boundaries, Beck is starting to envision an involved retirement from the sidelines.

“To see the growth has been phenomenal," Beck said. "That's just been another reason to sort of maybe take a backseat role into cheerleading mom, but also in support, whether it's managing or coaching or just helping people, whoever I can.”

Beck’s legend away from the rock climbing walls is certainly not done growing although new competitors may be finally catching up to her, with her help.

“I'm trying to work myself out of a job at the end of the day," she said. "There's just going to be so many other people doing cooler, radder, harder, more groundbreaking stuff that, yeah, I can sail off into the sunset with a glass of whiskey and my chickens and my dogs."