Universities collectively taking climber the distance (3,6)
I believe the answer is:
ivy league
'universities collectively' is the definition.
'climber the distance' is the wordplay.
'climber' becomes 'ivy' (I've seen this before).
'the distance' becomes 'league'.
'ivy'+'league'='IVY LEAGUE'
'taking' is the link.
(Other definitions for ivy league that I've seen before include "Harvard, Yale and six other private universities" , "Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Princeton and Yale" , "Brown's one of eight in this" , "Harvard, Yale etc" , "Group of eight prestigious USA universities" .)