Igniting a spark
I was very heavy as a young teenager and just ate all the wrong foods. My dad gave me a pair of cross-country skis one year for Christmas when I was 13. I took the bus all around the metro to different golf courses. I'd leave in the morning and figure out which buses I'd need to take and then came back at night. I just started making wiser choices. I started climbing when I was 17. I read a book titled "Annapurna" by Maurice Herzog, the first person to summit Annapurna. Having an adventurous spirit, I wanted to try climbing and was hooked after the first time.
Layers of interest
Initially, it was the physical side - just learning how to climb and learning how to use your body and how not to use your body and then of course there was the whole mental exercise of climbing: "Can I do this?" and "Am I going to fall?" and all the things that run through your head. Then slowly, climbing becomes a lifestyle. Through climbing I've traveled all over the world. I've climbed in Antarctica and New Zealand, all over the United States, all over Canada. I'll be in Mexico for a month in March. Experiencing different cultures and traveling to remote places really appeals to me. My favorite place to climb is the Black Hills in South Dakota.
Extreme focus
If I'm feeling really stressed I'll go climbing and spend a couple hours and walk away with a clear head and feeling much better -- because all you can think about when you're climbing is climbing.
Fitting work into the fitness schedule
Being a firefighter fits my lifestyle perfectly. Because of our work schedule, I can plan my vacation and go somewhere for longer periods of time. Right now I try and get to the indoor climbing gym three nights a week for anywhere from 2 1/2 to four hours. Then during the day I'll go to Lifetime [Fitness] and get on the treadmill or stationary bike or go cross-country skiing. I ice-climb, too, so if I have a partner I usually am out ice climbing during the week. In spring, summer and fall I'll be outside mountain biking or riding my road bike or climbing every day I'm off work. A lot of times I'll ride my bike during the day and climb at night.
