Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd.

Age:	Years climbing:	Achievements:	Favorite areas:
38	36	Had a lot of fun trying new things in climbing and flying. Helped open up new wave mixed climbing in North America, climbed with a lot of great people, stayed alive. Climbed my first waterfall at age 12, and won the Ice Climbing World Cup and numerous other international competitions since then including both speed and difficult at the 2006 Ouray Ice Festival. Opened many of world’s hardest mixed routes, most recently Steel Koan, M13+, in 2005. Many TV, film and video projects including first place at the Banff Film Festival for Musashi. Wrote the best-selling book, Ice and Mixed Climbing, published by the Mountaineers.	Any place new…

20 Questions
Describe your climbing background:
Started with my parents at a very early age, but got it into seriously on my own at about 15 so I could do a better job exploring caves. Everything else in climbing has been MUCH better than that!

Why climb ice?
‘Cause smacking the hell out of ice is fun? No good reason, I just like it a lot.

Describe a climbing experience when things got out of hand:
When I was 15 I was stealing beer off a balcony in my hometown of Jasper—the climb went bad when I was trying to down-climb with a couple of cases of beer under one arm, fell off, almost got caught, and smashed all the beer.

What are you up to when you’re not climbing?
Flying my paraglider, looking at maps, reading, training, and drinking.

Any training advice or suggestions?
Climb lots, bitch little, give ‘er hard and come back home safe.

How do you see climbing evolving in the next five years?
I have no idea, but it will be fun! I don’t think climbing evolves, evolution implies that’s something is getting better. I think we’re just changing the game up and looking for different adventures, same as climbers have done for generations.

What do you think about the M13+ or WI8 grade?
WI 8 only exists on seracs and in magazines. M13+ is just the start now that we’re not hanging like bats from our spurs; it’s going to be crazy fun pushing the grades. Maybe more emphasis on hard multi-pitch mixed routes?

How does fear affect your climbing?
It makes me turn around or move out of the way of whatever is making me afraid. I don’t climb to be scared, I climb because it’s fun.

Care to comment on: heel spurs, leashes vs. leashless, falling on ice, impact of drytooling?
Spurs: Two types of people use spurs: Those looking to have a good time on hard routes (right on, give ‘er!), and the weak/sponsored looking to stay both. Spurs were a short-lived diversion, but they do open up a lot of terrain to people so great, have at it and spur anyone who bitches about spurs. Leashless, the new tools, make it really fun! Falling on ice—don’t.

What are your future plans or goals in climbing?
Climb more days, work less, be outside more, be at my desk less, see more sunrises from above, sleep in my tent more, spend less time on planes, swing my ice axes more, pose less, laugh more at high altitude, stay alive.

http://gravsports-ice.com/icethreads/