Cover: Liz on “Krankandangle”, Grampians VIC. Photo by Jack Masel

Liz is another Sydney based, Blue Mountains crusher (most recently seen on the front cover of the “World Climbing Calendar“!!!), I met during my travels further East than the Grampians.

While it’s been almost a year since I first met her at the crag, I’ve continued to see evidence of her various escapades on social media. The more I see, the more I am deeply impressed by her commitment to achievement and pushing the boundaries, not only in climbing but professionally and in life.

A climber of 4 years experience, she’s managed to go from newbie to sending 26, whilst studying medicine full-time in Sydney. As you’ll see below, her determination to continue to bring everything she has to climbing, even as a new doctor in her first year, truly is a testament to what it is to stay psyched.

However, just like the rest of us, Liz is a human being. I think the reason I love doing these interviews is they delve just below the surface, enough to get a better understanding of how varied and diverse everyone’s unique approach to climbing is. At the end of the day, two people might send the same route (or whip!), but the story and experience for each person can be totally different.

Thanks for giving us a little more insight into your brand of psyche Liz!

How did you get into climbing? I had been indoor climbing once or twice as a kid and remembered liking it, but I also never really understood that it was something people did as a part of their lives. I always perceived it as some novelty activity you did once in a while like laser-tag or bowling. So it wasn’t until halfway through university that a friend of mine who was a climber got me a harness and shoes for Christmas that the notion of “getting into climbing” dawned on me. Even then it was a coincidence that all this happened just before I left for a trip to Thailand with some friends. We had originally planned on spending the second half of our time diving, however I had heard of Tonsai being famous for climbing so decided to check it out. Once there, I remember gazing at the ocean from the anchors of my first climb and thinking “Where has this been my whole life!”. Long story short I ended up falling wildly in love with climbing and spent the rest of my holidays in Tonsai, diving only the once before heading home!

What keeps you coming back? An obsessive nature and addictive personality? I remember after Tonsai, I would be out doing other things and my mind would drift back to climbing. At the time I had spent a couple of years being very career oriented and climbing was this gateway to escaping that to go on adventures. It may also just boil down to a simple lesson from someone I met early on, who used to say that you needed to cultivate a love for climbing, because sometimes it’ll get hard. Although I had grown up pretty active and passionate about a variety of hobbies, none of them ever stuck around that long. Initially with climbing, I interpreted difficulty in terms of the little moments of fear and pain, but over time I’ve come to realise it’s much more complex and that learning to commit to something is also a life skill. The fact that climbing is sometimes hard, not only physically, but emotionally and mentally is akin to all things worth pursuing. I think we’re drawn to challenge as an opportunity to overcome something. To me, it’s an almost primal driver of who I am, and so I guess you could extrapolate from that concept (with a bit of poetic license) that climbing may be also intrinsic to who I am.

Do you train? What’s your philosophy on training/not training? I climb indoors and try to do antagonists or hangboard. Philosophically I like the idea of training. I’m a time-poor weekend warrior, so I’m the target audience for training. Sadly, the reality is that I’m pretty bad at sticking to a training schedule when I climb in the gym. I tend to get distracted easily and just enjoy trying new problems.

Do you set goals? Have any huge ambitions related to climbing? I set loads of goals. I’m a very goal oriented person in general, so I frequently make mental goals and plans. Most of them don’t get realised or even attempted, but every now and then I’ll get lucky and it’s great. In terms of sport climbing, I usually just get inspired by the harder route everyone else is trying at the crag, so I’d love to one day try Hairline 2000 or Pleasures of the Flesh. Other than that, I think I’d like to one day be braver and do some trad and mixed routes down in the gramps, but those could easily be fantasy ambitions.

What’s your most memorable ascent? The Way of All Flesh (26)! I remember seeing the route on my first trip to Bardens in August 2014 and was just blown away. I had just led my first 19 (Little Triggers) and I couldn’t really fathom the idea of climbing something that steep in a cave that impressive. I have this super lame photo of me standing under the route pointing up in amazement, but since then it became my mental definition of “hard” climbing. When I first tried it in June 2016, it was the first 26 I had ever been on and I was stoked to be able to do the moves up to the traverse. A few days later, I unfortunately took a bad whip and broke my knee cap… so it wasn’t until ten months later that I finally sent the route!

Who, or What, inspires you the most in climbing? People that try hard. Whatever the line, style or gear, I have a special love for anyone who screams their way up a route or holds on when it looks like they should be off. The fight is the best bit.

How do you balance the “real life” with climbing? Poorly. I basically don’t have a life outside of work and climbing, and even with that I can often get frustrated that I’m not performing my best at one or the other. This year has taught me to let go of expectations and listen to my body a bit more. I have made the mistake some weekends of driving up to the mountains the morning after a 16 hour shift and 60 hour work week to barely make it up the warm up. Beyond that, I also am enabled by an incredibly supportive network of friends and family, who love me regardless of how little they see me and understand that I love them even when I go climbing instead of seeing them.

Through climbing, do you think you’ve learned anything you may not have without climbing? I think I’m a completely different person to whom I would have been without climbing. Climbing has taught me so much about myself that I don’t think I would have realised without it and I have also met so many incredible, opinionated and passionate people that I would never have met otherwise. It’s ridiculous to think of how much it has completely shaped my life in the last 4 years, but I am truly grateful to it.

Climbers and the environment: do you think we’re trashing the places in which we play? Sometimes. Humans in general have a huge (mostly negative) impact on the environment. Like most climbers, I like to think that we’re a little better than the general population and that’s backed by the fact that most of the people I climb with are incredibly environmentally conscientious. At the same time everyone knows the signs of a well trafficked crag. As nice as it is to have a clean trail to walk along and shiny bolts to clip, it’s horrible to see toilet paper or food scraps lying behind. Campaigns like leave no trace and pack in pack out are great, but there’s a reason people feel the need to educate and spread the word.