Q: You have a heart condition, can you tell us more about it?
It’s a congenital heart condition called Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome. I have a 2-leaf valve instead of a3-leaf valve. It required open-heart surgery at the age of 19. During that surgery, they basically put a clip in the wrong place, which has lead to early congestive heart failure and cardio myopathy.
As a result I have really low blood pressure. If I stand up to quickly I pass out. Any aerobic activity I get severely out of breath - a quarter mile walk or a flight of stairs.
It’s a congenital heart condition called Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome. I have a 2-leaf valve instead of a3-leaf valve. It required open-heart surgery at the age of 19. During that surgery, they basically put a clip in the wrong place, which has lead to early congestive heart failure and cardio myopathy.
As a result I have really low blood pressure. If I stand up to quickly I pass out. Any aerobic activity I get severely out of breath - a quarter mile walk or a flight of stairs.
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Q: How has this condition impacted your climbing?
I started climbing at the age of 18. I got hooked and then had the open-heart surgery. My friends thought they wouldn’t see me climbing again, but I got right back to it. I’m now 51. Climbing, along with bike riding, has been an ongoing staple of my life. For most of my adult life I lived to climb and worked to climb. I would compress a 40 hour work week into three days so I could climb. Eventually I had kids. When they were younger I took a short break, but when they got a little older I was back at it and taking them climbing with me. Some people drink or watch football for their entertainment, but being active was my temple. If I had a million dollars to make or climb would choose climbing. |
The last time I climbed was about 3 weeks ago. I climbed for half a day. It was just too much. My condition has reached the point where I can’t function. I climb a route or two and have to sleep. I’m having to face that if my body’s reaction is that extreme, then that type of exercise can’t be healthy. I am at the point where I will have to stop climbing.
I have gone from being able to ride my bike 5 hours in the heat or go on big 18-hour car-to-car climbing trips to this. But I’m trying to find ways I can stay outside and get to the places I love. I recently bought a 4-wheel-drive vehicle to fill this need – if I can’t hike, climb, or ride there, I will drive there.
I have gone from being able to ride my bike 5 hours in the heat or go on big 18-hour car-to-car climbing trips to this. But I’m trying to find ways I can stay outside and get to the places I love. I recently bought a 4-wheel-drive vehicle to fill this need – if I can’t hike, climb, or ride there, I will drive there.
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Q: You own a climbing-related business, tell us about it. Why did you start it?
In 2015 I started Climbing Addicts, where we make colored climbing chalk. There are a few reasons I started the business. Part of being a father is paying attention to your legacy in terms of things that are created. I’m in the construction industry, so to me homes that are built are a legacy. Children themselves are a legacy. A business is a legacy. Taking care of our world, especially the places we love to climb, is a legacy. With respect to climbing, I’m a strong desert trad rat. The first time I climbed in the desert in the early 1990s, it was pure and beautiful. But when I returned years later, you could clearly, visibly see the impact of climbing – the foot print was outward and upward. Walls were covered in chalk graffiti. I wanted to do something that also left a positive legacy in climbing, so I decided to make colored chalk. The beauty of colored chalk is it doesn’t require volunteers, trail crew, hammers, picks, or a shit-load of time and money to make a difference. It’s so fucking simple. Use red chalk on red rock, grey chalk on grey rock. Imagine if every climber took that one simple step? How fucking hard is it to have a baggie of chalk with different colors or even two different chalk bags for different walls? You’d think it would be simple, but people just don’t seem to be doing it. It seems we are advocates for things as long as it is convenient. Or we need the government to step in and tell us how to behave. I wish that wasn't true. I wish we could behave ourselves on our own fucking terms. Even though I’m based in the U.S. and my chalk is made in the U.S., most of my chalk orders come from Australia because the government has stepped in. They are protecting their rock by requiring colored chalk in certain areas. |
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Q: What are some boundaries you have had to overcome or are overcoming?
One is the reality of health care in the U.S. Health insurance requires specific labels and more testing outside of previous diagnoses for them to pay for care. Otherwise it’s all pay out of pocket. I’ve been through cardiac rehab and it works, but based on their labels and strict definitions, I don’t qualify now for insurance to cover it. So, as a result, I’m in so much medical debt.
With my business a boundary is it’s difficult to find what makes climber’s click. Someone will pay $5 for a cup of coffee but they get upset about paying $10 for a bag of chalk. A major boundary is around things like perceived value. In my perspective you base the price of an item on how much it costs to make. But costs are often determined based upon perceived value – say something costs 5 cents to make, but people charge $5k and people will pay – that is not morally right.
But the opposite is also true, if people place a low value on something, they won’t pay what it really costs to make a high quality product.
Most people approach business as a way to make money. I approach it as a way to contribute to climbing and make a high quality product. China can come in and make cheap, shitty chalk, toxic chalk, where you don’t really know the ingredients and the consistency varies from batch to batch and people will buy it because it’s $2 less.
I get my chalk from France where they have to test their product. My chalk is not chunky. I make the colorization myself, here in the U.S. I package and I ship. I touch every batch of chalk that goes out. I have an intimate connection with the end user and I take pride in that.
Most manufacturers never even see the chalk or the bag it’s in, much less touch it. It comes out of a box from China.
How do I overcome those boundaries? Hell if I know. One thing feeds the other which feeds the other which feeds the other. Overcoming boundaries isn’t just one step, one action, it’s a culmination of actions.
Overcoming boundaries is also related to “success.” Success is you gotta get up everyday and show the fuck up, because tomorrow might not happen. So many get hung up on making mistakes, doing it wrong. We want the quick and easy hack on how to do things. But, if you know how to do it wrong than you know how to do it correctly.
One is the reality of health care in the U.S. Health insurance requires specific labels and more testing outside of previous diagnoses for them to pay for care. Otherwise it’s all pay out of pocket. I’ve been through cardiac rehab and it works, but based on their labels and strict definitions, I don’t qualify now for insurance to cover it. So, as a result, I’m in so much medical debt.
With my business a boundary is it’s difficult to find what makes climber’s click. Someone will pay $5 for a cup of coffee but they get upset about paying $10 for a bag of chalk. A major boundary is around things like perceived value. In my perspective you base the price of an item on how much it costs to make. But costs are often determined based upon perceived value – say something costs 5 cents to make, but people charge $5k and people will pay – that is not morally right.
But the opposite is also true, if people place a low value on something, they won’t pay what it really costs to make a high quality product.
Most people approach business as a way to make money. I approach it as a way to contribute to climbing and make a high quality product. China can come in and make cheap, shitty chalk, toxic chalk, where you don’t really know the ingredients and the consistency varies from batch to batch and people will buy it because it’s $2 less.
I get my chalk from France where they have to test their product. My chalk is not chunky. I make the colorization myself, here in the U.S. I package and I ship. I touch every batch of chalk that goes out. I have an intimate connection with the end user and I take pride in that.
Most manufacturers never even see the chalk or the bag it’s in, much less touch it. It comes out of a box from China.
How do I overcome those boundaries? Hell if I know. One thing feeds the other which feeds the other which feeds the other. Overcoming boundaries isn’t just one step, one action, it’s a culmination of actions.
Overcoming boundaries is also related to “success.” Success is you gotta get up everyday and show the fuck up, because tomorrow might not happen. So many get hung up on making mistakes, doing it wrong. We want the quick and easy hack on how to do things. But, if you know how to do it wrong than you know how to do it correctly.