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Politics
8-Year-Old Girl Shows How 'Impenetrable' Trump's Border Wall Actually Is By Easily Climbing Up And Over It
10 October 2019
Karla R Hancock/Facebook
The owner of a rock climbing facility in Kentucky built a life-size replica of the border wall for climbers to scale.
An 8-year-old girl recently assisted him with testing the belay system attached to the wall segment for climber safety, and was able to easily scale the obstacle.
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Rick Weber, co-founder of Muir Valley rock climbing park, decided to test the President's claim that the border wall was "virtually Impenetrable" by putting together a replica of the bollard fence for climbers to climb at "Rocktoberfest", a festival for rock climbers at the nearby Red River Gorge canyon system.
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Weber told <em>Time</em> what he thought of the President's claim about the wall and his motivation for building the replica:
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<em>"You don't tell a bona fide rock climber something's impossible to climb." </em>
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Weber invited a few local climbers to help test the replica and the included <a href="https://rockandice.com/how-to-climb/how-to-belay/?cn-reloaded=1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">belay system</a> installed for climber safety. </p><p>Among those who made the climb was 8-year-old climber Lucy Hancock. Hancock and the other climbers used no additional equipment while climbing, just the belay and climbing harness for safety.
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An adult climber who also scaled the wall, Erik Kloeker, managed the climb in around 40 seconds.
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Karla Hancock, Lucy's mother, told <em><a href="https://time.com/5694432/girl-climbs-border-wall-replica/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Time</a></em> that her daughter has long showed an inclination toward both rock climbing and politics. </p><p>She said that Lucy is confused by the current discourse on immigration, however.
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<em>"To her, it's black and white: If somebody's hungry, and you have the means to give to them, why couldn't you?"</em>
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<strong>Karla posted a series of photos and videos of Lucy's climb to Facebook. </strong>
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<span style="background-color: initial;">President Trump has <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-visit-border-wall-san-diego-ca/" target="_blank">claimed</a> that mountain climbers have said the fence can't be climbed.</span><br>
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<em>"We actually built prototypes and we have, I guess you could say, world-class mountain climbers. We got climbers. We had 20 mountain climbers. That's all they do; they love to climb mountains."</em>
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<em>"...This wall can't be climbed. This is very, very hard."</em>
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<strong>Weber, and other rock climbers, had a hard time believing this is true, however.</strong>
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<em>"We were all very puzzled because none of us in the climbing community had heard of these 20 people that had supposedly tried this wall." </em>
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Weber opted to build the shorter of the two possible wall heights, 18 feet vs. 30 feet, to save some money. Because the flat panel at the top of the wall is the same height either way, Weber said the wall should be equally easy to climb either way. The taller wall just means having to shimmy up the bollard portion for a slightly longer distance.
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When climbing, Lucy used the edge of the top panel to climb the flat surface, which Weber allowed because the panels on the actual fence appear to have significant gaps that would allow a climber to get a good grip.
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<strong>Reactions to Lucy's climb on social media were varied, but many poked fun at the "virtually Impenetrable" wall. </strong>
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</p><div id="cf197" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="X9U05Y1570817023"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1182329172007571458" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">@Independent @realDonaldTrump : This wall is unclimbable. 8 year-old: Hold my milkshake</div> — Alex Waddington (@Alex Waddington)<a href="https://twitter.com/AWaddingComms/statuses/1182329172007571458">1570724215.0</a></blockquote></div>
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</p><div id="d54fd" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="05QKQK1570817023"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1182306307845562369" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Hey remember the Border Wall that’s costing US taxpayers billions of dollars and is supposedly impossible to climb… https://t.co/RNfwJ07Zxs</div> — Tina Issa 🇺🇸 (@Tina Issa 🇺🇸)<a href="https://twitter.com/tinaissa/statuses/1182306307845562369">1570718764.0</a></blockquote></div>
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</p><div id="529fd" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="M9YOTX1570817024"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1182285157908324354" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">@indy100 @Independent sort of makes the entre point of said wall being in existence pointless</div> — parisogp@outlook.com (@parisogp@outlook.com)<a href="https://twitter.com/paulrose222/statuses/1182285157908324354">1570713722.0</a></blockquote></div>
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Lucy may have had to use the edge of the flat panel at the top to climb it, but that is largely because of her height. Weber estimates that a climber who is at least 5' 10" could climb the face of the panel even if the gaps at the edges were not there.
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The climbers who will have a chance to climb the wall replica at Rocktoberfest this weekend will also help to prove how far from "virtually Impenetrable" the wall really is.
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Weber said that his aim in making the replica to climb wasn't to say that the United States should not have a secure border, merely to point out that bollard fencing was not the way to go to achieve that.
</p><blockquote><em>"I'm not making an argument that we shouldn't have a secure border. I'm not doing that at all." </em></blockquote><blockquote><em>"What I'm trying to do is to make sure that we're not blowing a lot of money on some silly nonsense of putting up something that he thinks can't be climbed. Because it can. And will be." </em></blockquote><p>If there's a budding climber in your life, this set of 22 Assorted <strong><em><a href="https://amzn.to/2Vw0WhW" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Deluxe Rock Climbing Holds for Kids</a></em></strong> with 44 Swing Safe Fasteners + Drill Bit, available <strong><em><a href="https://amzn.to/2Vw0WhW" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a></em></strong>, can be used to create your own climbing wall. </p><p>******</p><p>Have you listened to the first season of George Takei's podcast, '<a href="https://anchor.fm/ohmyyypod"><em><strong>Oh Myyy Pod!</strong></em></a>'?</p><p>In season one we explored the racially charged videos that have taken the internet by storm.</p><p>We're hard at work on season two so be sure to subscribe <a href="https://anchor.fm/ohmyyypod"><em><strong>here</strong></em></a> so you don't miss it when it goes live.</p><p>Here's one of our favorite episodes from season one. Enjoy!</p><iframe frameborder="0" height="102px" scrolling="no" src="https://anchor.fm/ohmyyypod/embed/episodes/When-Bystanders-Refuse-To-Stand-By-e58t8n/a-amidri" width="400px"></iframe>
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