A Climber We Lost: Jasper Acosta

You can read the full tribute to Climbers We Lost in 2023 here.

Jasper Acosta, 28 Age, June 21

For Jasper Acosta, helping others enjoy and excel at the sport of climbing was just as important as pushing himself. He selflessly devoted himself to Chicago’s climbing community, coaching younger climbers through a combination of jokes and mentorship, seamlessly merging his goofy personality with an understanding of technical skills and an attention to detail unmatched by most coaches.

While much of his time was spent at Chicago’s Brooklyn Boulders, sending several young climbers to Youth Nationals, diving into deep conversations with strangers, eating a slice of pizza from the nearby 7/11, or climbing himself, Acosta would take every opportunity to hitch a ride to climb outside.

“The weather is looking really nice this weekend,” he would often say, which his friends eventually determined meant he was hoping to find a ride to Devil’s Lake, his favorite outdoor spot.

Acosta, who passed away on June 21, 2023, in Chicago due to complications arising from being a heart transplant survivor, was an impressively strong climber—a feat made even more impressive by the fact that he often climbed with bulky heart monitoring devices.

“Jasper did not let his health complications define him at all,” said his friend Gabe Levine-Drizin. “On any given day, regardless of how he was feeling, you could find Jasper at Brooklyn Boulders Chicago coaching kids, climbing, talking with members, or just lounging around in Crocs.”

Acosta was an outgoing individual who knew everybody and could talk about anything—a fact that could, at times, be hilariously frustrating. On many occasions, after a climbing session, his friends would patiently wait for him outside, eager to go out to dinner, only to go back in to find him deep in conversation with a complete stranger. 

Aside from his four years as the head coach of the Brooklyn Boulders Youth Team and Movement Youth Team and his passion for rock climbing, Acosta loved watching trashy Netflix rom-coms, riding around the city on Divvy Bikes (a bicycle ride-share program), playing Super Smash Bros, eating at Benny’s Pizza, and, funnily enough, hedgehogs. He even instilled his love for hyperpop in others, converting several of his friends into Charli XCX fans.

Though his sardonic sense of humor often made it seem otherwise, he had a profound sense of justice. He was extremely proud of his mother’s work in the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and went to several rallies during their strike in 2019. He was also an active member of many online organ transplant forums and threads, frequently sharing his experience with others, raising money, and being an advocate for an extremely underrepresented community. 

According to his friend Julia Cooley, Acosta was constantly reading and always ready for a debate—be it world politics or which post-competition bar the coaches should visit. “One of the first times I hung out with Jasper we argued for over an hour about whether people were inherently good or bad,” Cooley recalled. “Years later, he told me, ‘Sometimes I just say stuff to get people to argue with me.’”

On Jasper’s last day alive, he coached kids from all across Region 61, which covers northern Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, had dinner with a team climber and his family, and bouldered at Movement Lincoln Park. 

“[That day] encapsulated the way that he lived his life,” said Cooley. “He didn’t feel well that day, but he went about his day anyway, doing what he wanted to do and pushing through.”

There is no doubt that Acosta has had a lasting impact on the younger generation of climbers who he encouraged, taught and mentored, as well as on anyone who had the pleasure of meeting him at the gym or crag, regardless of whether they were close friends or strangers.

Acosta is survived by his mother Anna, his two father figures Robert Lane and Stuart Abram, and his siblings Jordan Deluna and Taylor Lane.

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