I really learned to approach climbing not just with a pure athletic mentality, but also to appreciate all these beautiful places we get to go to.

When you do hard routes, you have to try hard. They're not easy routes. You have to give everything you have. You have to get totally animalistic. When you're super pumped, I have to yell to bear down. [...] It's like martial arts. When Bruce lee threw a punch, he had to mean it. Haahhh! Like that. When you're doing a hard move, there is this excess energy you have to let out. Air explodes out of you.

Keep it fun. Don't take it too seriously. At the same time, when you do feel inspired, take it seriously, too.

They kind of go hand-in-hand. Following your motivation, resting when you need to rest, and going for it when you feel inspired.

I think I'm a pretty creative person. I love building things. I love working on my house. Landscaping, stuff like that.

I would like to be myself in life - my real self. My ego, though, is powerful and not necessarily working in my best interest all the time. Even when climbing I can't escape the clutches of my ego. The reason why I started climbing was because I could be free from myself.

I've been climbing for almost twenty years now. I'm more inspired and more motivated. I feel stronger than I ever have. I feel like that's worked up until now.