"Climbing is a sport of fun, not a sport of right or wrong." -Lynn Hill

    It's not often that you meet a legend. Lynn Hill is one that I had the honor to speak to. She truly was as interesting and intelligent as she had seemed in movies or clips I have seen of her.

    If you don't know who Lynn Hill is, she is a climbing legend. She began her career at a young age climbing ground breaking ascents in the late 70's, 80's, and the early 90's. Her most recognizable feat was when she did the entire Nose of El Capitan in 23 hours on September 19, 1994. This day was one of the most important days in climbing history. What was so extraordinary about this was that she was the first person to free-climb it. 

    When I heard that she had arrived at Sportrock, I asked my boss if I could keep working a little longer to help set up for the coming Arc'teryx event that Lynn Hill was attending. Lynn Hill walked into the room of the gym where her conference was going to be and I was in shock. It was incredible to see this woman who had revolutionized climbing walk in only 5 feet away from me. At first I was scared to talk to her. I was worried I would say something stupid or ask a foolish question. My coach, Drake (whom was not familiar with how legendary Lynn was), came with me to learn about her. We had about a 30 minute conversation about her and her views on the climbing world.

    A part of the long conversation we had that stuck out to me is when I asked, "What is your opinion on the climbing world right now compared to the climbing world you used to know?" Her answer was brilliant. She mentioned how people feel tension between how the old style of climbing has died out and a new more performative climbing has grown. She said this, "I'm all for the new climbing. It brings a world of new people to the sport." She later mentioned how in her time there was a disagreement on whether transitioning to sport climbing from trad climbing was blasphemous or not. She says that whatever makes the sport the most fun is what we should do. To finish off I will leave an image that I took with her on that day.