Five years to the day since I began climbing

Today is a very special day for me. Today is the fifth anniversary of my first climb ever. It all started in my doctor’s office when Mark Nicholson said, “We need to get you down to SteepWorld.” I, of course, asked what that was. “It’s an indoor climbing gym,” the Doc answered cheerfully. I told him I would go check it out right after my appointment, which I did. I got fitted for a pair of La Sportiva TC Pro shoes and bought them, along with a chalk bag and some chalk. Yes, I was that instantly hooked on climbing. The original SteepWorld was a bouldering gym. Awesome, awesome place. Chad Chadwick and Brian Hagerty were two of my first climbing mentors. Both were very experienced climbers, and Brian even came to a competition with me so that I could have a partner to experience that with (despite our shared dislike of crowds). Funny thing was that we won matching Mammut caps. I won my first competition. I think I was the only competitor in my division, but that’s okay. The 2017 Annual Rock Jam Smucker’s jar went to me. That was too cool! I was so excited! That was a good year—2017. I went climbing outdoors all over the place with AJ and Emily, and later, James. We had such a great time climbing together. Ah, the good old days. I began to learn to set routes in the gym with AJ and Taylor on Sundays when the gym was closed. I could set a mean V4 any day. Good times. Good times. Let’s see if we can bring them back…