The Beginning, the Journey and the End
In 2007, I quit a f inance job in London to escape the cit y. Ever ything about it was wrecking me so I moved north to Shef f ield, which was the capital of climbing in the U.K. My life seemed per fect. I rebuilt relationships, I worked as a route setter and I was in a climber’s paradise. One frost y morning, I cr imped on a t wo-f inger pocket. Pulleys in one of my f ingers r ipped with an audible snap and I dropped from the holds. I knew it was game over. My mind was strong, but my body had let me down.
My options were limited, but with my par tner’s help, I found a solution. I needed an outlet for my energ y. I couldn’t hold onto any climbing hold because of my injur y. I searched for what was left. Since I couldn’t pul l down, I couldn’t gr ip any holds, but realized cracks don’t require gr ipping. I became a crack climber.
My introduction to cutting-edge crack climbing was on a short tr ip to the Orco Val ley in Italy. When we arr ived, ever ything was covered in snow and meltwater and deemed unclimbable. The one route I knew would be dr y was Greenspit. I’d idolized the route and its f irst ascender Didier Berthod. I could see ever ything clearly. All I had to do was to hang on each jam and move between them. I know that sounds obvious, but it was fascinating to me to understand what I had to do to take my crack climbing to the next level.
Around the same time, I started to climb with Pete Whittaker. What was great about Whittaker was his obsession complemented mine. We started climbing some of the cracks I was projecting. When we both came across the unclimbed Centur y Crack project in Utah, our motivations fused into one. With pens and paper, we made plans for of fwidth training. We converted a cel lar underneath my newly acquired house to a crack training g ym. Before starting to train for Centur y Crack, my levels of motivation were good, but joining forces with Whittaker brought new levels of psych.
Our obsession paid of f and we made the f irst ascent of Centur y Crack 5.14d using the methods I’d evolved and adapted to manage obsession. When that was combined with the dr ive and support of another person, it was electr ic. What I hadn’t realized was that I succeeded in my long-ter m goal; I had to face the rea l ization that my obsession was to come to an end. When I came back from my tr ip to the U.S. in 2011, I fel l into a hole of low motivation. I had no goal and it was confusing. I star ted to exper ience what happens when you feel the end of an obsession and have to deal with it.
After returning to the U.K. from Centur y Crack, I needed something to motivate me, but I was burned out. I spent the f irst few months feeling listless, moody and il l. Whittaker was in a similar situation and suf fered the symptoms of post-viral fatig ue. Neither of us could l ift the other’s spir its. It took almost a year for us to recover physical ly and mentally. That’s when Whittaker encountered a new route in Ita ly that turned things around. Whittaker found and climbed an amazing f inger crack in Orco Val ley. It led to our next obsession, f inger cracks, and we discussed our next project, Canada’s Cobra Crack.
Within a few months, we had a training plan. We built new wooden cracks in my cel lar and booked climbing tr ips to visit Europe’s best f inger cracks. Our tr ip to Squamish to climb Cobra Crack in 2013 was successful. We trained hard, obsessed, and it paid of f. Returning home from Canada with one of world’s hardest cracks under my belt, I had a lot of time to ref lect and think about where I was going.
If I were to make a graph of my obsession over the years, there would be a growth curve. My obsessive tendencies have led to injuries. I think of all the people that I’ve met over the years who put in hard work through winter months only to end up injured by spring because they didn’t know when to stop. The feeling of being stronger, f itter and faster is addictive and it’s hard to pull out of that and lay the gains down on real rock.
As I continue into the next chapter of my obsession, I know there’s no end in sight and I don’t need to worr y about where I f it in any more. I’m kind of happy being a bit lost and f inding small adventures along the way. There isn’t a log ica l end to a l l of this and along the way I wil l adapt to what crosses my path. I just hope dur ing my jour ney, I can help others to rea lize their dreams are possible.