Photograph by HATSUE
The route started 100 feet in the air. After traversing a razor-thin path along the face of a cliff, Matthew Seto pulled a rope through his harness, but was distracted by his friend handing him carabiners before tying it in place.
Seto, then about 30 years old, was sport climbing, in which climbers clip rope, tied to their harness, into pre-placed bolts in the rock. In case of a slip, they only fall to the last bolt they clipped into. Another person, called a belayer, acts as an anchor at the floor of the climb, taking in the slack of the rope as the climber ascends, which prevents them from falling dangerously far past the bolt. “The relationships that you build doing this—you literally have to trust that person with your life,” says Seto.
Three or four clips up, he encountered another climber on a neighboring route, who pointed fearfully at Seto’s harness. He looked down to see that—distracted by the carabiners—he’d forgotten to finish tying the rope onto his harness. At 150 feet up, one slip off the rock meant he would have fallen straight to the valley floor. “That was a little bit of a clench moment,” he says.
Rock climbing is a full-body workout. Core muscles maintain balance and stabilization, while the forearms and tiny finger muscles work to keep hold of rock ledges. Climbers constantly analyze their next move, piecing together the climb like a puzzle.
Sport climbing in the U.S. is graded based on class and difficulty of the route. Technical climbs begin at Class 5 and increase in difficulty, from 5.6 and up. “I’ve climbed as high as 5.13,” says Seto, now 56. Few in the world climb 5.14 and above, meaning Seto borders on an elite class of athletes. Bouldering, meanwhile—done without ropes or harnesses on rock formations around 20 feet high—is graded based on the hardest move of the route. Beginners typically start at VB-V0.
Photograph by HATSUE
Brandon Gay, 29, has climbed for about 12 years, since his senior year of high school. While he now prefers outdoor climbing trips at places like New River Gorge and Chattanooga, Tennessee, he used to participate in local competitions and has spent the last seven years coaching the next generation of climbers (he currently coaches at Elite Performance Climbing).
At regional and divisional championships, athletes are not allowed to see the routes until their turn, deciding the best way to get up the wall on the spot. Points are awarded based on how far they make it, the number of attempts made to complete it, and the speed at which they do so. Gay’s climbers often rank high in comps—many earn podium finishes and win events in both USA Climbing and American Scholastic Climbing League competitions.
“When you’re climbing, it feels like you’re flying,” says Gay. “Or as close as you can get without skydiving or a wingsuit.”
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