Hobbies

From the personality of the website, I guess you can tell that my main hobby is climbing… both kinds; rock and ice. I have been climbing actively, in other words like someone who is possessed since the early 1990’s. Ice climbing and alpinism became a part of my life along about 1996. Before that I mostly participated in free climbing and aid climbing.









Aid and Big Wall Climbing:

Though I was pretty good at it once upon a time, I rarely aid climb anymore, likening it more to vertical construction work than the act of climbing. That’s not to say that I haven’t paid my dues though. When I lived in North Carolina, I climbed all of the major aid routes on the North Face of Looking Glass, and have also made a few attempts in Yosemite Valley. I guess Yosemite Valley is where I figured out that aid climbing is really not for me, being overwhelmed with the logistics of hauling a huge amount of gear up a great expanse of stone over a longer period of time than I was used to from back east. Also, alpinism was starting to play a much larger role in my life. So, I became a “gram weenie” instead; preferring fast and light, because it gets you back to the car and the cooler that much sooner, eh?

Ice climbing and alpinism are by far my biggest passions. Though I currently live in Colorado Springs, the Canadian Rockies are really where I dream of being; fighting to gain purchase and upward mobility over a landscape of limestone and ice colored in hues of azure and chrome. I have traveled modestly throughout the United States and Canada for ice climbing; Alberta, Canada and Cody, Wyoming are my favorite places to visit to climb ice. For casual rock climbing, Red Rocks in Nevada is at the top of my list. For alpinism, certainly Alberta is the place for me to be, but there will always be a spot in my heart too for Rocky Mountain National Park and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. I guess the “Black” is not really alpine climbing, but I always liked the sense of commitment it takes to climb there; being “ Yosemite for grown-ups.”

I have never had a big hang-up about sport climbing versus traditional climbing, though the area where I first learned to climb, Moore’s Wall in North Carolina, is a staunch bastion of traditionalism. One of my idols and mentors is Tim Fisher, who was always quick to throw down the gauntlet and show us “whelps” how it should really be done. Grounds up is a style that I have a great deal of respect for, but have somehow always found ample time to “hang-dog” as well. Here in Colorado, I sometimes hang out with a crowd known as the “Pueblo Gringos”, and have whiled away many wonderful days at Shelf Road or chasing bolts in the Wet Mountains.

Soloing is a very big passion of mine too. Increasingly, I find myself wandering the mountains alone, or solitarily swinging my ice tools on some frozen waterfall or other. I debate with myself a lot about answering this siren call of the hills because the risks are great to be sure. However, maybe I am becoming addled by age, but the pleasure gained from the times I have climbed alone seems to temper the danger enough, making solo climbing a risk I am increasingly willing to accept.