Leave it to Weaver

Interview by Gregory Bahr

 

If you haven’t heard of Brad Weaver yet, you will, because he is turning into a force to be reckoned with. Whether he is tearing apart 5.14 routes in the Red or ticking off the many hard double-digit boulders on his project list, Brad is a great reminder that people actually climb from the Midwest, and they climb hard! He recently moved to Utah and in the next couple months we will definitely hear news of some hard sending. I recently had the chance to talk to Brad via email and this is what he had to say:

 

Age: 20

Location: Salt Lake City, Utah

Years climbing:  4.5 years

Sponsors:  La Sportiva, Black Diamond, Sterling Ropes, So Ill Holds, Metolius (for chalk)

 

DPM: Who is Brad Weaver?

 

Brad:  I’m a skinny dude.  5’8” and weigh a buck 20.  However, I tend to eat more than anybody else I know.  I’ve been known to make some hefty pasta dishes and kill the whole thing. 

 

DPM: How did you start climbing and could you give me a little info on your climbing history?

 

Brad:  My buddy and I were bored one hot central Illinois summer.  We needed something productive to do so we decided to take the belay class at Upper Limits, our local gym.  Like almost every other climber, I was hooked from the start.  After three months of gym climbing I took my first climbing trip to Horse Pens 40 and loved it.  The feeling you get when climbing on rock is something you can’t get anywhere else.  Even though I got thrown off of most problems I attempted I knew that I liked climbing outside much more than climbing inside.  A few months later, in the spring, I made my first trip to Jackson Falls to do some sport climbing.  I actually ended up doing my first 12a that trip!  I was stoked.

 

DPM: So how is your Utah trip going?  Any hi lights or interesting experiences? Marking off any ticks from your preliminary tick list that’s listed on your blog?

 

Brad:  It’s going really well.  My girlfriend Hayley and I left Illinois in the middle of January in search of some new rock and we definitely found it.  Our trip started off with a stop at Joe’s Valley.  Despite a lack of sleep I was able to do two of the problems on my tick list, Freak V10 and Resident Evil V10.  Joe’s Valley reminds me a lot of southern Illinois sandstone so I felt right at home.  After that we headed to the St. George area to do some climbing.  I did some cool problems at Moe’s Valley like Show of Hands V11 and Gription V9.  Unfortunately the bad weather that lingered over the Southeast this winter somehow ended up following us to Utah.  We ended up getting rained out and we were unable to climb…so we booked up to Salt Lake City.  We found a place here, have made some trips to some local spots, and even got a membership to the gym.  I’m beyond psyched to be in Utah.  There is so much rock here and I can’t wait for the weather to get good.

 

 

DPM: So why did you just recently move to Utah?

 

Brad:  I moved to Utah because of the proximity of high quality areas to one another.  In St. George for instance you have VRG, Moe’s Valley, Black and Tan, Wailing Wall, and The Cathedral.  Within an hour or two of Salt Lake you have so much rock…LCC, American Fork, Logan, Maple, etc.

 

DPM: I noticed that you’re in college. Where do you go to school and what you’re studying?

 

Brad:  I’m actually taking basic general education classes online.  It’ pretty sick to be able to make your own schedule.  Instead of sitting in class, thinking about climbing, I can go climbing then go to class.  It’s pretty convenient. 

 

DPM: How does school affect climbing for you personally?

 

Brad: School takes away from my climbing time for sure.  I wish I was fortunate enough to climb full time but that’s just not the case.  Maybe someday…  

 

DPM: What it’s like being a low-key strong man from IL?

 

Brad:  I do kind of like going to a crag and having nobody know who I am.  There are no expectations this way.  Being from the Midwest people are often surprised to find out I climb.  Illinois is pretty flat and climbing isn’t exactly the first thing that people associate with it.

           

DPM: What’s on the plate for you personally in life over the next couple years?

 

Brad:  Hopefully I’ll be finishing school in the next two years. I would love to go climb in Europe.  For the most part there are no plans.

           

DPM: What keeps you on the motivated and psyched while traveling on the road?

 

Brad:  I love going to new areas.  The variety you get with climbing is awesome.  I tend to watch a lot of climbing movies as well.

 

DPM: Foods you cant live without on the road?

 

Brad:  Pizza.  I live for pizza.

 

DPM: Favorite sends on the rope?

 

 

Brad:  Fifty Words for Pump is definitely one of the best routes I've ever climbed on.  I first tried the route last March.  At the time I couldn't do the crux move and I could barely do the moves between the bolts.  I left it alone until I moved to the Red in June.  I didn't really have any expectations to do it since it was the summer and temps were reaching the mid 90's.  My first day on it I surprised myself by doing the crux move and doing some good links.  After that I was pretty much hooked.  I think I went back to it three days in a row and by the end of the third day I had it dialed. After a couple more work sessions and some redpoint burns I had one-hung it twice.  I was getting frustrated and decided to stay away from it for a couple of days.  About a week later I warmed up and gave it a burn, falling from the last hard move before the jug.  I was pretty bummed because I had given it all I had, fallen, and was flash pumped.  I started to get the feeling of an epic project ensuing.  I ended up sitting and belaying for three hours thinking that I was done climbing for the day.  I decided to get on it one last time that day to brush holds for the next day.  I still felt pumped from my first burn when I started climbing and had no expectations.  After I pulled the crux and got to the rest it hit me that I really wasn't pumped or tired.  The rest of the route is a blur and the next thing I knew, I was at the anchors.  I was definitely psyched to have sent it but I think I was even more psyched that I was able to do it in the summer.   My favorite route though is Black Gold at the Red.  The flow is flawless, the holds are perfect, and it never really lets up. 

 

DPM: Favorite boulder ascents?

 

Brad:  The Womb and God Module are both special because they represent a personal breakthrough and a certain progression for me.  I learned how to truly try hard on these two problems. 

 

DPM: I know you spent some time with Joe Kinder down in RRG and climbed Southern Smoke with him and what not. How was your time spent with Joe? Good guy?

 

Brad:  It was awesome climbing with somebody who was just as psyched as I was.  I spent a lot of time at the Red climbing on routes by myself, which was hard.  It’s hard to motivate yourself sometimes.  It’s really nice to have somebody projecting the same route as you.  The whole process is different, ya know?  When you are working a route by yourself and you get frustrated people always tell you, “It’s okay you are supposed to fall…it’s a hard route”.  But it’s not that way…you know you can make it past that certain point but you keep falling there.  When you have somebody working on the same thing as you, you have somebody who can relate to that experience and understand the frustration.  I think that’s cool.  Knowing that somebody else knows the same frustration as you do.  But then you suddenly make it past that move and you progress.  It’s all about projecting and I like being able to project a route with somebody else.  Joe is a really motivated guy and that motivation rubs off on anybody who is around.  There really wasn’t a single day when there was a negative vibe at the cliff.

 

DPM: What does climbing mean to you?

 

Brad:  Climbing means forgetting about everything else that is going on in your life.  It’s something that I can put all of my energy into.  I love climbing and I don’t know what I’d do without it.

 

 

photo by Kevin Todd

 

DPM: Where is the direction of climbing heading in your mind?

 

Brad:  Things seem to keep getting taller.  All these highball boulder problems people are putting up are definitely a progression for the sport.  I think each generation does something to progress climbing and these hard highball problems are what our generation is doing with it.

 

DPM: Favorite Crag?

 

Brad:  The Red hands down.

 

DPM: Any other interests besides climbing?

 

Brad:  I have a dog…he’s pretty cool.

 

DPM: What is some advice that EVERY climber should know regardless of how obvious it may seem?

 

Brad:  Give it your all every time, even if you feel tired and worked, because you might surprise yourself.

 

DPM: Lastly any shout outs?

 

Brad:  Miguel’s crew…hold it down this spring!