There're a lot of people who make
a whole lot of money and, apart
from all the things that money can
buy, it's not really deeply rewarding
or satisfying -- and they haven't
really made much of a contribution.
For me, I felt that in doing in what
I really loved doing, and ignoring
those who told me I shouldn't be
doing that, it led to a lot of good
things, not just in my life, but I
think it had an impact on a lot of
people's lives.

I feel like I had a real involvement
in getting the sport climbing move-
ment going. I feel that I was a sig-
nificant contributor in the changes
over the last 15 years that have

occurred in climbing. Now there are
climbing gyms, and so many more
companies and people making a
living climbing, and so many more
climbers -- I feel that I was at least
part of the reason why -- because I
made the choice to do what I did at
Smith Rock.

That is satisfying and there aren't a
whole lot of times you find some-
thing in your life where that happens.
You usually don't make a choice to
do that. It's just a matter of doing
something that you love and it might
be an unintended consequence from
what you decided.

But that's what I did, it's not what I

do now. Climbing is not my career
at this point. It's what it was. I've
changed, and my interests have
changed, although I'm still interested
in climbing.

I didn't want to work as a climbing
guide, for instance. I worked in
the industry for a long time, I got
kind of tired of it. What I'm doing
now is, for the most part, totally
unrelated to climbing except for
the fact that I'm writing this guide-
book. And I'm happy to do that!

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