Nicknames: Bleeding Rhino, Ace Montana, White Rightening, The Sickness, Stretch McGregor

Likes it: Steep and Juggy; anything with a heelhook; anything with a hand/foot match

Favorite Area: Pine Mountain

Special Diet: Muffins from the 'Tupperware Cafe', Granola Bars (ideally chewy)

Lowest Moment: Sharing beta with an 8 year old girl at a local competition. Having to abandon Pine Mountain and coast 30 miles to the nearest gas station.

Favorite Routes: Crowd Pleaser, Titanium Man Traverse, Big Chicken, Jedi Mind Trick

Proudest Ascents: Saturday Night Live, Master of Reality

Aspire to Send: Kodas Corner, White Rastafarian, Iron Man Traverse

Worst Fall: Fell 20 feet at Pine Mountain and missed the pad. I was sure I'd broken my ankle. Thank god for my spotters, it should have been much worse. Read about it in the Pine Mountain Log.

Coined the Phrase: It has merit!

What Climbing means to me: Climbing means so many things to me that there is no way I can sum it up in just one simple sentence. It's a reason to get outside. It's a reason to travel to new places. It's a reason to get together with friends. It's a reason to go camping. It gets you out of the city when you need it most.

I sometimes climb because I'm happy. Other times, I climb because I'm sad. Sometimes I can't fall asleep because I'm thinking about intimidating problems that I should be able to climb. What it all boils down to is that climbing feels like something we were all meant to do. In that primitive mindset, I don't think we were designed as people to do most of the things we do in our daily lives. Driving to work. Watching TV. Even playing games like baseball.

When you watch great climbers, and get to a certain level yourself, it starts to feel so natural. This is the way we were meant to interact with and move through our environment. No outside forces or machinery, just us and the rock. There is something so calming about climbing outside. It's a whole day of relaxing out in nature, interspersed with a few quick bursts of intense exertion and focus.

When climbing at your limits, it's such a precise activity that even the slightest lapse in concentration, or slightest cut on your finger, can mean failure. There is no other activity I've ever tried where I could do so well one day, and so poorly the next. It's also the only activity that I consistently surprise myself with what I am capable of.

Climbing suits me so well because I am the type of person who is competetive, but only with myself. While competing against others is fun and rewarding, I am far more motivated by a desire to perform at my highest level of ability. That being said, some days I just play casual and enjoy being outside and watching everbody else work hard.

I know I won't be climbing for the rest of my life, but I will always look back at it as the coolest thing I've ever been involved in. The friends, places, and experiences will forever be remembered...

Other: It's sucks being a gym rat now. I am also insanely jealous of y'all, living it up in the fabulous weather I left behind. I will come out for a trip sometime, and anyone who comes to Boston gets a free climbing trip sponsored by me.

I'm finally recruiting some East Coast Bandits!