Transcript
WEBVTT
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Welcome to Ageless athlete.
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The podcast where we go deep into lives of those who keep moving, keep striving and keep pushing the boundaries.
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Forget age, forget limitations.
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Here.
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It's all about the fire and the heart.
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And today we have a guest who stories guaranteed to light that fire in you.
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Craig DiMartino embodies the spirit of the spot.
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Gaston everywhere.
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He's a claimer, a teacher, a mentor.
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And an inspiration to anyone who's ever faced a challenge.
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Craig's relationship with the outdoors goes way back, starting in the humble crags of Pennsylvania.
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It wasn't just a hobby.
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It became a way of life, a passion that shaped his world.
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But life, as we know.
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Throws curve balls.
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And his case, it was a devastating accident that changed everything.
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He found himself at a crossroads.
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Facing a future that seemed unimaginable.
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But Craig is not a man who backs down.
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He made a choice, a bull one.
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To not let this event define him.
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And that choice led him.
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On N.
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Incredible journey of adaptation grit.
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And ultimately triumph.
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Today Craig stands as a champion adaptive athlete.
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He has five, a sense of at gap.
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I do have them in less than 24 hours.
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He is the two times national champion.
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Two times Bron medalist and worlds.
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And five times extreme games, gold medalist.
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What makes Craig's story truly stand out?
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Create now dedicate his life to helping others discover.
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The transformative power of climbing.
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He works tirelessly with veterans and individuals with disabilities.
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Sharing his knowledge experience and unwavering belief in the human spirit ability to overcome any challenge.
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He leads adaptive climbing clinics.
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Mentors, aspiring climbers.
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And advocates for greater inclusivity in the sport.
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He loves.
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He not only returned to the sport he loves, but also dedicated himself to helping others discover the power and joy of climbing.
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No matter their physical abilities.
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We will be exploring his story in detail.
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The highs, the lows, the moment of doubt.
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And unwavering resolve that gathered him through.
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They will talk about the incredible power of the community.
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The innovations that have opened doors for adaptive athletes.
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And the profound lessons that Greg has learned along the way.
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Craig is extremely thoughtful.
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Very articulate and such a gifted storyteller.
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You will be so glad you tuned into this one.
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Okay.
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On with the show.
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Hi Craig, thanks for joining us today on the, H list athlete podcast.
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Please tell us, where are you today and what did you have for breakfast?
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I am in Loveland, Colorado, where my wife and I are based out of.
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We've lived in Colorado for a really long time, so that's kind of our home.
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I actually had oatmeal this morning
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do You prepare your oatmeal?
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So today I was super lazy and I just put nuts in it with a little bit of, um, honey.
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That's it.
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Super simple
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simple, efficient and, uh, Reliable.
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and mobile.
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Yeah.
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when I need it to be mobile.
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Sure.
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Actually, funny you speak of mobile.
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I half expected you to perhaps be in your, uh, camper van.
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I thought maybe, uh, you were taking advantage of, spring weather to, uh, get the climbing season rolling.
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Yeah, we, we just came back from Spain.
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So, um, we were climbing in Chulia.
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So I, I was, when we got back here, the weather was terrible.
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Yeah, as you know, it's really good right now.
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So we are kind of itchy to go here, but we have a bunch of work we're catching up on right now.
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So we're doing some clinics and things like that.
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So, climbing, I think next week though, get outside again.
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So we're happy.
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I'm happy spring is here.
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I feel we already have.
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There's one thing in common, which is I see sun peeking behind you.
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The day looks bright and it's the same here in San Francisco.
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It's a, it's a gloriously, uh, sunny, beautiful day.
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Yep.
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It's been, um, when we, so we've been really fortunate.
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My wife and I travel a fair amount.
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And, um, every time we've gone in the past two months climbing on these trips, when we leave Colorado, it snows.
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And then when we come back, it's like 70 degrees.
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So I think we're timing it right.
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And I think like now, I think for the foreseeable future here in Colorado, it's supposed to be really nice.
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So we're, I am not arguing.
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I love it.
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So yeah, when it's, I need the sun, I'm not one of those people who can do the, like the clouds all the time.
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I could never live in like Seattle.
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Cause I just, it's beautiful.
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Um, but I just need the, I need to see the sun a lot.
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So this Colorado kind of serves that in, in space.
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So I love it.
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I will say that I am more of a lizard when it comes to, uh, soaking, soaking in, uh, soaking in sunshine than, than
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It's a good way to say that.
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That's a good way to say that.
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I like that.
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Awesome.
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great.
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can you share a bit about who you are what do you do?
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Yeah, of course.
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I have been a climber pretty much most of my life.
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I started climbing right out of, um, like about halfway through my college, uh, career.
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A friend of mine got, was getting married and he did a bachelor party where we went climbing and I had never climbed before.
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I just, Was curious and went and, um, and I loved it from the very first day.
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And this was in Pennsylvania, like this scrappy little cliff in Pennsylvania, um, called Livesey rock.
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And we went out and to me, that was like as big as El Cap, you know, like it was, I think it's maybe 35 feet tall, but I mean, I not being a climber, I was like.
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amazed by what we were doing.
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But I really loved the, um, the engagement and the movement.
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And I wasn't a very athletic kid.
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Um, you know, I was an art student.
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I wasn't an outdoor person.
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I grew up climbing and, or camping and fishing with my, my dad and my brother.
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But, um, you know, I wouldn't have said like I was an outdoor person.
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I was, you know, I just did those things as a hobby.
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And then we went climbing and I was like, It just kind of clicked in my something in my brain just clicked and I just remember thinking this is what I want to do now, so I started climbing with this buddy who was at that bachelor party and then he kind of passed me on to this other individual because you know back then I've been climbing about 34 years back then there wasn't a climbing gym yet, so You kind of depended on other people to show you around.
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And that's what these, uh, friends did.
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They kind of taught me the basics of how to place gear and all that good stuff and, um, do it efficiently and, and do it well.
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So you don't, you're not pulling gear and.
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You know, hitting the ground, that's obviously what we don't want.
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So, um, it was really neat to kind of grow up in that time as a climber and, and as a human, I was just, you know, as I was maturing, I was also maturing with my climbing, um, and then moved to Colorado, uh, met my wife in Pennsylvania.
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She's actually from Pennsylvania as well, but we met, um, in a climbing gym that I was working in and then she was going to CSU.
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I moved out here, uh, to climb more and then we kind of started climbing together and got married and ended up having two kids who are now, um, young adults, which has been really fun as well.
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And, uh, and then Cindy and I, Cindy is a core climber as, as myself, she's been climbing as long as I have been.
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And, um, And we work together.
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We, we teach adaptive climbing clinics all over the country.
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Um, and in Puerto Rico and Hawaii and, uh, where we go and kind of show people with all different physical disabilities, how to climb and engage with the natural world and, uh, Kind of show them that by doing that, you're, you're the healing and just the, um, the peace of mind and quality of life you get from that we use climbing as that vehicle to get them there.
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So we're able to introduce all these individuals to climbing and just how beautiful it can be.
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And as you and I were chatting before, it's, it is a lifestyle sport and kind of showing them that lifestyle and saying this.
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Maybe it's not climbing, but maybe it is nature.
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So we want you to engage with both and then figure out what you like.
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Um, and then they can go, you know, do whatever they're going to do.
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But the nonprofit that we work with that is based in Denver, um, that's called Adaptive Adventures, and they.
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Offer different outdoor sports.
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So, you know, lots of the kind of the sports that we all know, you know, with the exception of surfing, it's, it's skiing, biking, climbing, paddling, things like that.
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Um, we can kind of then push them that way too.
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So they can still get that quality of life, but we're just kind of that entry point for them to show them, Hey, you can be doing these things.
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So that's kind of me in a nutshell up to today.
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I forgot to ask you, how old are you?
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58, getting old as dirt.
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You may say 58 and I will believe you because this has been recorded, but you do not look that old.
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a day over 45.
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I was thinking we are the same age.
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Oh, you're, you're wonderful.
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You're my new favorite person.
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we are recording this for those of us who are listening on audio, but yeah, Craig has this great, uh, head of hair, which I'm very jealous of.
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So hang on.
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So you started climbing 34 years ago in Pennsylvania.
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So you were Let's say you were 34 at that, uh, sorry, you were 24 Approximately.
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Approximately.
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is actually also about the same time I started climbing.
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I started climbing in the East Coast in North Carolina and at the New River Gorge in West Virginia.
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So yeah, maybe 24 is a good year to start climbing for those of us who still want to.
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That must be, it's weird too.
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Cause like we don't meet, um, I mean, oddly enough, we do know a lot of older athletes who are still doing their sport, but like there's not a lot, there's not like a ton of people who have been, who just have said, I'm going to do this my whole life.
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You know, I kind of, because we're in the climbing world and see them come in and out, you know, people will cycle in and then cycle out as, as things happen in their life.
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Um, we've, you know, been really fortunate just to be able to stay, you As a part of it and make it, you know, kind of that lifestyle that we like to pursue and chase.
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And it's still fun.
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I mean, as I'm sure you know, it's, you know, still, I love doing it still.
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It's even when it's bad, it's still good.
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So it's, it's a really fun thing to be a part of.
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Sure.
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And then you were savvy enough to meet your life partner at the climbing gym, which makes, makes for, uh, I would say, uh, unified, uh, approach to, uh, to spending one's time.
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Very much so.
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What did you study in school or college?
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And what did you think you would be doing as an adult?
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Or what did you want to be doing as an adult?
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Before climate came over and took over, uh,
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well, so I, I studied design and photography, um, graphic design and photography and, uh, was working as a photographer.
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I worked for Associated Press for about eight years in Philly.
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Um, and then I worked for, I, I did, I did news for a long time thinking I wanted to stay there, but then that, that's a bit of a grind.
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And I wasn't really climbing as much when I was doing that.
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And then I realized, you know what?
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I don't want to be getting shot at and see all the things I was seeing.
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So I, I left when I came out here, um, actually the Associated Press app, the person I worked for in Philly said, I can connect you to the ones in Denver, but I passed.
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And I was like, I think I'm going to just move on now and do what, uh, something else.
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And so I thought I wanted to do a climbing photography.
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And I came out here and I met Craig Lubin, who was a force of nature here in, in the front range.
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Um, and Craig and I became fast friends.
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Um, Cindy already knew him.
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So I was, that's how I got introduced to him, but he and I were, were ended up becoming good friends and he was into photography as well.
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So he and I would kind of work.
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Together.
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And he was writing for climbing magazine at the time.
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So I figured, okay, I'm just going to do that.
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Um, but then I quickly realized when you're a climbing photographer, and this is why I have a ton of respect for any climbing photographer I work with.
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You work your ass off.
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It is hard work.
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And so.
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I realized I wanted to be climbing and not taking pictures.
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And so Craig and I, I shot Craig a bunch and Craig would shoot me and he would write things, we would do things together, but I quickly realized, okay, I don't, this is not what I want to be doing.
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And so I took my design degree and, uh, my photo degree and I started working kind of more in publishing where I could kind of.
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Do stuff for magazines, not in the climbing world, um, but like product photography.
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I did that for a long time and then just lifestyle photography.
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And so I was doing those in conjunction with my climbing and then climbing just kept getting bigger and bigger in my life.
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And photography kind of was, was holding its own cause that's how I supported myself.
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Um, but I just didn't, I didn't know what I wanted to do after that.
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I just was kind of, Opening and closing as, as I was moving through life.
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Um, and then of course I had, you know, a big change in my life in, in 2002 that, that kind of definitely pivoted me and redirected me.
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But, you know, the design piece, I still feel like I use my design background just because I understand what people are saying when they're talking about it and marketing and things like that.
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So I think that's.
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This only helped me, but now I, I haven't, this is embarrassing, but I haven't picked up a camera other than my iPhone in, oh my gosh, I actually, I couldn't tell you, I couldn't tell you when I did it last.
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That's terrible.
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Um, but it's been a long time.
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Yeah,
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you are certainly not the first person to, uh, put your, uh, your larger camera to rest in favor of, uh, a smartphone camera.
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Many of us are guilty of guilty of doing that.
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And.
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You are so right.
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Mad props to the luminaries amongst us who are able to juggle both taking photos and climbing at the same time and do them both with such finesse.
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It is, A testament of, I don't know,
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It
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grit, hard work and, uh, talent, I think.
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I watched them work and I'm just, you know, I'm in awe.
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Like, I mean, I've climbed out cap with photographers like Mikey Schaefer and James Q.
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Martin, and you watch those guys on a rope and it's just the amount of efficiency and professionalism is.
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And fitness, just like general fitness.
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Those guys are monsters.
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And yet you just, people see the photo and they're like, oh, that's cool, but it's like, oh my God, you know what went into that?
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That is like some serious work right there.
