No Obstacle Too Tall
Cal Poly mathematics Professor Dylan Retsek climbs a boulder problem at the Poly Escapes Climbing Park on campus. Born with a partial left limb, Retsek is an awarded teacher and competitive paraclimber.
MATH PROFESSOR INSPIRES THROUGH PROBLEM-SOLVING AND COMPETITIVE PARACLIMBING
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OCTOBER 2024
by NICK WILSON, PHOTOS BY JOE JOHNSTON
Retsek watches Lytle as she cuts feet (when both feet
intentionally come off the wall, with all body weight on the arms)
on the bouldering wall overhang at the Poly Escapes Climbing Park.
Dylan Retsek approaches his newfound love for competitive paraclimbing in the same way he teaches mathematics — with determination, honed skill and a passion for problem-solving.
Born with a partial left limb, Retsek has taught math at Cal Poly, his alma mater, for two decades, earning a Distinguished Teaching Award in 2012-13.
After a serious knee injury ended his pickup basketball days about a decade ago, Retsek started climbing recreationally, an activity he and his two children enjoy doing together.
Sparked by a connection last year with renowned one-handed paraclimber Maureen “Mo” Beck, Retsek recently embarked on a new journey to compete with USA Climbing at the highest levels of his sport on the USA Paraclimbing National Team.
Paraclimbing athletes scale indoor walls in competitive events with artificial holds. Athletes include those with missing limbs, visual impairment and other neurological and physical disabilities.
“I feel like there’s a lot of encouragement from USA Climbing, and I have a better sense now of what it’s going to take to compete,” Retsek said. “I’m excited. I’m motivated. And I’m going to see how far I can go.”
The dedication and enthusiasm that inspire Retsek to compete at a high level also make him an excellent teacher. Students say that he skillfully captures the imagination, sharing a sense of beauty and inspiration in the material.
"Dr. Retsek always takes on any challenges, math or climbing, with determination and a positive spirit. He makes everyone around him believe that any feat that they wish to accomplish is achievable, and he lives that way in his own life too.
~Bella Padavana
Math graduate student
"Dr. Retsek always takes on any challenges, math or climbing, with determination and a positive spirit,” said Bella Padavana, who took Retsek’s classes as an undergraduate and graduate student, earning her master’s degree in June. “He has a way of running a string through all of his lessons, so when you sit in his class, it is like listening to a storybook unfold. He makes the adventure of even the toughest undergraduate math classes seem like a difficult yet exciting quest that he will help you conquer. He makes everyone around him believe that any feat that they wish to accomplish is achievable, and he lives that way in his own life too.”
Retsek was encouraged by Beck, who spoke at the Performing Arts Center on the Cal Poly campus in May 2023 about her climb of a 2,200-foot sheer rock face of the remote Lotus Flower Tower in Canada, which peaks at more than 8,000 feet of elevation.
Well known in paraclimbing, Beck has won national championships and achieved “some incredible outdoor ascents,” Retsek said. He contacted her on social media when she came to San Luis Obispo.
“I kind of expected nothing,” he added. “But to my surprise, she was super nice and generous with her time. We went for a climb at The Pad climbing gym in SLO, and that’s where it all started.”
After assessing his talent, Beck was adamant that Retsek should take up competitive, adaptive climbing. Retsek started to gain a different idea about his potential.
After his first national paraclimbing event in Washington, D.C., in March, he went on to compete in World Cup events in the summer in Salt Lake City, Austria and Italy.
“It was an honor and privilege to represent our country against the strongest paraclimbers from around the world,” said Retsek.
Retsek navigates the bouldering wall at the Poly Escapes Climbing Park on campus.
His busy life has involved intensive training, planning and raising money for competitions, all while teaching and staying involved with family activities. Retsek and his wife, chemistry lecturer Jennifer Retsek, have two teenage children. Their son, Finn, is a competitive climber on the USA Youth Climbing series. Their daughter, Sloan, plays competitive soccer and climbs for fun.
Retsek has been an avid athlete since his youth, and played basketball, cradling the ball in his left limb to shoot with his right. He also played soccer and tennis.
“In retrospect, I think my parents must have been really amazing and intuitive,” he said. “I never had any kind of weirdness or awkwardness growing up playing a lot of different sports. I never thought twice about the difference between me and everyone else.”
Retsek, whose working life is devoted to his students, is getting help now in his climbing endeavors from some of the same students.
A team of Cal Poly engineering students who are part of the student-run EMPOWER program, which aims to improve quality of life for individuals with physical challenges, have designed a custom sleeve that gives Retsek a better grip while scaling walls. They’re in the process of designing a prosthetic to help him climb.
“A more durable prosthetic would be capable of withstanding harsher climbing terrains such as Bishop Peak and the more jagged boulders at its base,” said biomedical engineering major Patrick McGee, the project lead. “This prosthetic will allow for quickly interchangeable attachments that will allow Dylan to climb more diverse outdoor routes and pursue weight training in the gym.”
McGee has taken math classes with Retsek as well, calling him “my favorite professor.”
“No other professor has been able to get me excited about the content like he has where I would leave class some days thinking, ‘Wow, this is some really cool stuff,’” McGee said.
Retsek’s World Cup recent competition schedule included events in Salt Lake City in May; Innsbruck, Austria in June; and Arco, Italy in September.
From left, Daniel Sebo, Vanessa Beeler, Retsek, Isabella Padavana, Madison Lytle and Lance Hsu. Math undergraduate Sebo; math graduate students Beeler, Padavana and Lytle; and biomedical engineering undergraduate Hsu have all taken math classes with Retsek and all but one are members of the Cal Poly Climbing Club, for which Retsek is the faculty advisor.
To learn more about Retsek’s climbing, go to @510climb on Instagram. For information on the student-run EMPOWER program,visit www.cpempower.com/.
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