Caleb Andrew Kortje was born on June 30, 1993. From the moment of
As a young boy, Caleb thrived on adventure and danger. Whether it was dunking contests in his pool,
Then as a teenager, Caleb discovered rock climbing . . . or maybe it would be better to say rock climbing discovered Caleb. He just seemed to be made for the sport, and it was rock climbing that gave Caleb his greatest confidence and friendships. People began to notice. A group of men even pitched in to anonymously buy him his first pair of aggressive rock shoes. Never telling him their names, they just wanted him to know that they loved his passion.
And passion is what climbing was to Caleb. He quickly became engrossed by the sport. Driven to make himself climb harder and better, he hired a coach with money he raised mowing yards and doing chores. Within a relatively short time, he established himself as one of the top boulderers in the
After his coach moved out of state, Caleb enlisted the help of his dad, David. Together they read every training book they could get their hands on, trained or climbed 4-5 days per week, and traveled around the country competing or just hanging out at crags. They became regulars at climbing gyms, pushing each other, encouraging each other, and cheering for each other. And that was really where the magic happened, those times together, just the two of them: celebrating victories, talking trash over techniques, nursing sore muscles and tender
It was during those times, as they traveled to some of the greatest climbing gyms in the nation, that Caleb would remark how much he would love to have a gym like that in his
Sadly, Caleb also suffered from severe depression. Like all of his life, he fought that battle well, but in the end, it was just too much for him. Caleb took his life on August 22, 2012. He was nineteen years old.
One of Caleb’s favorite quotes was ‘follow your bliss’. And so it was that quote, and Caleb’s life, that inspired the passion to build Bliss Climbing and Fitness. We hope you will stop by and
From a vacant field to a full service bouldering and climbing complex David Kortje and his family made this place a reality. It didn't take long for a community of climbers to grow and improve when you have the available resources and route setters busting out new routes and cleaning holds every week. The staff has taken climber feedback and made the gym a symbiotic facility that has flourished. Myself and others are very grateful that he brought this to Wichita. Even our grass routes climbing club that was our main climbing location has grown and changed along with the growing climbing needs of the community. It is great to see such a strong climbing community emerge out of all of this development.
