‘I just felt like climbing’: Freshman scales Gary Ransdell Hall
November 7, 2022
Students walking past Gary Ransdell Hall around 3 p.m. Monday were in for quite a shock when they saw a barefooted student dressed in black sitting atop a second floor awning.
Ethan Denton, a freshman at WKU studying computer sciences from Monroe County, said he climbed Gary Ransdell Hall to surprise his friends who were on the second floor.
“There’s a window up there, so I wanted to peek my head in and wave at them,” Denton said.
Denton, up on the roof with the spiders and the leaves, realized he could not get down due to the curved nature of the stones. He was thinking of jumping but said he was dissuaded by the uneven terrain.
Eventually a fire truck arrived on the scene and two firemen assisted Denton off the roof, which he said made him “feel like a cat.”
WKUPD Officer Brandon Miller, waiting at the bottom of the ladder, told Denton not to do that again but did not take the matter further.
“He was really chill, I like that guy,” Denton said. “He was like, ‘just don’t do it again.’ I don’t plan on doing it on campus again.”
Denton said he has been climbing for roughly three years, mostly water towers and other buildings – though this is the first WKU property he has climbed.
“It started when I was a kid,” Denton said. “Like I could climb better than I could walk.”
Denton said he has fallen often in his climbing adventures, once as far as 30 feet. Denton said he has never gotten hurt while climbing. He does not rock climb for fun but he said that is something he would like to get into.
“I’ll try anything once,” Denton said. “Don’t climb things you can’t get down from.”
Administration reporter Michael Crimmins can be reached at [email protected].
