Gripping the rock with only the tips of six of his fingers and one of his feet, the climber faced what must have been a four-foot jump upwards. He prepared himself to make the move, mentally making note of how and where to grab the wall… and then he jumped.
Freshman Ty Weinstein is someone who loves climbing. Starting at the age of 10, Weinstein has grown to love the sport and now finds it hard to imagine a life without it.
“I’m not happy when I’m not climbing,” Weinstein said. “Without it, I wouldn’t have a community which is really important to me. Also, climbing is obviously an athletic thing too so it keeps me in shape.”
Climbing for Weinstein has evolved into much more than just a hobby, spending anywhere from 2-5 hours a day, five to seven days a week on sport.
For the most part, Weinstein boulders, which is a style of climbing with no ropes or harnesses that is close to the ground. In bouldering, climbs are graded on a V-scale system, which ranges from V0 all the way up to V17, though it is typical for indoor climbing gyms to only set climbs as high as V9 or V10. Weinstein tends to do most of his climbing at Progression Climbing, where he also works as a rec team coach for kids.
“I love my job. It is great that I can spend a few days of the week mentoring kids in a sport that I have really grown to love.”
Even though Weinstein works at Progression, he enjoys climbing in all sorts of places, preferably outdoors, where the sport of climbing is taken to a whole new level. His favorite places to climb include Boone and the New River Gorge in West Virginia.
“This summer, I went to Utah and I was projecting this one V11 that I just could not get. The day my flight was scheduled to take me home, I woke up at 4 a.m. and went to the route I had been working on. The climb was short, but hard. It started with two crimps and required me to match my left and then make an awkward move out to another even worse hold. From there, it was a dyno to the finish. And I finally got it!”
It is climbs like these that contribute to the fulfillment and joy that climbing brings to Weinstein. There is a more stressful side to climbing however: the competitions.
“It’s a lot more stressful and the stakes are much higher,” Weinstein said. “In general, it’s not as much fun — unless you win.”
So while he does compete every so often, he prefers to enjoy the sport without the pressure of doing well. However, Weinstein sees a future for climbing that goes beyond just a passion.
“I want to become a professional athlete, that’s the goal.”
Photo courtesy of Ty Weinstein
