Name: James Otey, 24
Climbing instructor, Evolution Rock + Fitness
How long have you been an instructor for? I’ve been doing it professionally for three years. I’ve been a climber for the last 12 years.
How long have you been working at Evolution Rock + Fitness for? Since we opened in December, so I guess it would be eight months now.
Is there any kind of formal training needed to be a rock climbing instructor? Or do you just need experience? There’s many facets of being a rock climbing instructor. I guess the baseline level is a sound technical base, and what I mean by that is, it sounds cliche, but knowing how to use the ropes. And basically it’s knowing how to use the gear systems properly and knowing how to safely carry out a day of climbing, and that’s of what I do here — teach people how to get started, how to use all our safety systems and manage risk accordingly. The other side of that is teaching people how to physically climb, and that’s where my coaching experience comes in. That takes more of a knowledge base of actually climbing, actually going out and getting on rock and doing it for yourself. So I guess there’s two different avenues you can pursue as a climbing instructor, and I’m doing both of them.
What’s the coolest rock you’ve ever scaled? There’s so many different styles, and many styles can be really rewarding in their own ways. I’m primarily a sport climber, which is a style of climbing that focuses on gymnastic ability and pure movement and physical ability as opposed to a style like alpine climbing, where you’re trying to literally get to the top of a mountain. A style like that maybe isn’t as physically demanding in a specialized way — it is, of course, really physically demanding, just in a different way. I guess in my experience as a sport climber, you pick climbs that are really hard for you and you generally don’t do them on your first try. So there’s this route I did this past spring, it’s been my most rewarding route. It’s up in Rumney (on Waimea Cliff); it’s called “Cold War.”
Why has it been the most rewarding? It’s because I worked on it so long. It’s the hardest route I’ve ever done. It’s such a process to work on something so difficult, and maybe at the beginning you’re not able to even do all the moves on the climb, but near the end, it all comes together. It’s just a really amazing feeling; it feels really effortless when you actually do the climb.
What’s your dream climb? It’s actually up at the same wall that I did the “Cold War” route at. It’s this beautiful, 45-degree overhanging wall that looks like a wave. It’s about 50 feet tall, and it follows this crack system up the wall. If you look at the wall, it’s pretty blank and it’s very steep so it doesn’t look like there are many probable climbs on it. But there are actually three climbs on it, and this one goes up the middle. It’s called “China Beach” and it’s one tiny step up from the hardest thing I’ve ever done. So I think it’ll take a huge amount of work for me to do it. I anticipate it taking at least a year or more of trying the route before I’ll be able to do it. But it’s just so aesthetically inspiring and physically demanding and I get excited about it.
What would tell someone just getting in to climbing? What kind of advice would you give them? At the end of the day, we do it to have fun and we do it because we love the pursuit of climbing. What I tell people — even experts — who are getting locked in to these training routines … is at the end of the day if you’re not doing what you love and you’re not enjoying every minute of what you’re doing, then maybe it’s not the right sport for you. Pursue the things in climbing that are going to produce the most positive emotion for you, pursue those styles that are really going to get that for you.
For me, that’s sport climbing because it’s physically demanding and a more gymnastic-style of climbing, and for other people it might be a style of climbing called traditional climbing, where it’s more about climbs that don’t utilize bolts. . . . It focuses more on climbing really tall walls … more than the physically demanding aspect of doing a 60 foot route. Different people find creative outlets in those different avenues. So what I would say to someone is come in and discover what you like and then pursue that to its fullest.
Have you ever climbed without a rope? I have. It’s a style called free soloing. I don’t do it that much; I’ll only do it on climbs that I’m 100 percent certain that I can do without falling. It is more of a fringe aspect of the sport, and you will see more experienced climbers do it at various levels. It’s pretty famous when non-climbers think of climbing and they’re like “Do you free solo climb?” And I’m like, “Generally I don’t. I have on really easy climbs where I’m 100 percent sure I won’t fall on.” But, again, if you fall, something really bad could happen, and climbing is a creative outlet for me it’s something fun to do, so it’s not really worth it for me to kill myself doing it.
What’s the most difficult part of a climb? The most difficult part of a climb is called the crux. That’s just what it’s called in climbing. Based on the style of the route, it could be a variety of things. It could just be literally holding on to the top maybe on an endurance style climb. On other climbs, the crux could be just a certain set of movements that are more difficult than the rest of the climb. So there isn’t any cookie cutter crux, it’s very specific to the route you’re climbing and it can manifest in a variety of ways. Some climbs have many cruxes.
What’s the most thrilling part of a climb? For me, it’s completing a hard project, something that I work on for a long time and am not able to to right off the bat. And it’s a really amazing feeling to climb to the top of the route and clip the chains, basically hook into the top the anchors for the first time. It’s totally a process and I enjoy the journey as much as I enjoy the final result.
What age group do you teach? I have been teaching everyone 8 years old all the way up to 50. . . . I’ve done everything from coach recreational groups all the way to world level athletes.
What level of climbing do you teach? Generally I teach more advanced level climbers, because that’s the style I like to pursue. It’s also the style that’s the most rewarding for me to be able to teach. And to watch these kids that I know have the same passion that I do find their own avenue and find their own outlet.
Hidden talent? I don’t really get scared that much. After taking a huge fall, I’ll usually just laugh it off because I know climbing is a really safe thing.
Guilty pleasure? I’m a home-brewer and I like to drink a lot of beer. One my end goals is to start a small brewery up in my hometown of Canterbury. I really like drinking craft beer and microbreweries. Every year, you’ll see a new study come out that says drinking a pint of dark beer a night is actually good for you, maybe better than red wine. So maybe it’s not a guilty pleasure.
