When I began climbing in the late 1980s, I devoured every climbing book and magazine I could get my chalky hands on.

One guy whose name kept popping up was Steve Hong, for his extreme first ascents, competition success and preternatural strength.

As a teenager, he set his high school record for busting 75 pull-ups in one minute.

In 1981, while in medical school in Denver, he was the first to climb Sphinx Crack in Colorado’s South Platte. Rated 5.13b/c, it was among the hardest rock climbs in the world. Around that time, Steve also pioneered two of the best cutting-edge climbs of the era: Tricks Are For Kids (5.13b) and Six Star Crack (5.13b) at Indian Creek, Utah.

Now, more than three decades later, Steve is one month away from 60 years old and climbing harder than ever.

But the Hong we read about in magazines today isn’t Steve, a dermatologist in Boulder since 1990. It’s his 23-year-old son, Matty — a University of Colorado film student and the other half of the strongest father-son climbing team in the country.

Matty has won national competitions, bouldered at a world-class level and climbed sport routes as hard as 5.14d — a grade so hard that it didn’t exist for the first 21 years of Steve’s climbing career.

The two can most often be seen climbing together at Movement Climbing and Fitness in Boulder or in Rifle. Last summer, the Hongs and a group of friends spent the month of June climbing in France.

“I feel lucky that Matty is psyched to climb with me once in a while. The dynamics change when your child is better than you,” Steve says, laughing. “That probably occurred around age 15 or 16 with Matty. Before that, I would give him advice on how to do something. And now it has completely reversed.”

“When I was younger he was more of a father figure when we were out climbing,” says Matty. “He always brought my lunch, he drove me there, he paid for my stay. But now we’re both more independent. It doesn’t feel as much father-son, it feels more like climbing buddies, which is cool.”

I asked Steve whether it was tough for him when Matty’s climbing surpassed his own. He said, “Oh no, no, no. I have friendly competition with my friends, but with your child you’re super psyched when they continue to get better. I’ve never even remotely felt any sort of competitive thing.”

Matty’s mom, Karin Budding, also lives and climbs in Boulder, though lately she’s been more into road biking.

“My mom still works full-time and she just did a 1,000-mile bike ride with (her boyfriend),” says Matty. “I find those things more inspiring to my climbing than climbing itself.”

And he appreciates that he can relate to her through what he loves.

“I can tell my mom what project I’m working on and what the crux is like, and she understands.”

Matty’s older brother, Alex, is a chef in San Francisco. Though also a gifted climber (he can climb 5.12 off the couch), he’s focused on starting his own restaurant.

Meanwhile, Matty is motivated by the hundreds of first ascents his father has done, most recently routes like Double Rainbow (5.14a) and Planet X (5.14b) at Rifle.

“He’s definitely left his mark in climbing,” says Matty. “I’d like to do that, too.”

And while the sport of climbing has changed dramatically since Steve first tied a rope around his waist (harnesses weren’t invented yet), the reasons we climb — the friendships, the struggle, the athleticism — are the same for Matty as they were for his dad.

“When I see my dad climbing, I’m not like, ‘Oh, I want to do 5.14 when I’m 60.’ I think more, ‘He’s been climbing for over 40 years and he still enjoys it as much as he did back then.'”

Contact Chris Weidner at cweidner8@gmail.com.