Reaching the top: North Idaho paraclimber wins gold in world competition

COEUR d’ALENE — Mason Keough started climbing with his brother during COVID in 2020, since it was an activity they could share without crowds.

A few years went by, the world opened back up and Keough kept up climbing

Then everything changed.  

“On Oct. 2, 2023, I got into a workplace accident where a pipe came down and bounced off my fingers,” Keough recalled.  

He went to Bellevue Medical Center to recover from his injuries and began to mourn climbing because at that point in his recovery, nothing had ever seemed farther away.  

Hoping to give him a new goal, his brother introduced him to paraclimbing.  

“He went from the depths of despair to, ‘I’m going to put all my energy toward climbing,’” his mother, Toby Keough, recalled.     

Since he wasn’t working, Mason began climbing every day.  

“It definitely started out as a fun way to hang out with my brother, but you start loving the sport itself, which is based off strategy and trying really hard. To me, those are the two main qualities of climbing,” Mason said. 

During the nationals paraclimbing competition in Oakland in February, Mason took first place for his AU3 amputation division, achieving the highest climb in spite of being new to the sport.  

“It’s been learning how to use my left hand again, where I can’t just grab things normally and I have to use my wrist or figure out ways around the problem,” Mason said.  

He competed in Salt Lake City before traveling internationally in Innsbruck, Austria and then South Korea. Finally, he took the gold medal in Laval, France. 

The journey to recovery and finding new ways to accomplish physical goals has been an uphill battle, but Mason has been willing to put his all into the challenge of pressing ahead. 

“It’s really hard,” Mason said. “I did not think I was going to be able to climb, much less climb hard, but I was able to get stronger and climb by the grace of God.” 

His dream is that the Paralympics will add his category in its 2032 competition, since it’s currently not going to be featured in the 2028 Paralympics. 

Mason’s wife, Bella Keough, has been elated to see his perseverance pay off. 

“He’s been working so hard for this and he’s accomplished these really big goals,” Bella said. “When he lost his fingers, he was like, 'I’m never going to climb again,' and the time between that and getting back into it has been incredible.”

Mason hones his skills at Coeur Climbing and was featured at a special event it hosted last fall to share a short film about his journey called “Ascension,” directed by Thomas Wesley. 

Mason is looking forward to more international competitions and, as always, pushing himself as far and as high as he can.

“The thing about climbing is the routes always stay the same, only you change,” Mason said.

    Mason Keough bites his gold medal from the International Federation of Sport Climbing Para Climbing in the World Cup competition in Laval, France.
  

    Mason Keough won a gold medal from the International Federation of Sport Climbing Para Climbing in the World Cup competition in Laval, France.