John Freaney
early November, 2004

FRB: Age?

John: Almost 22 though. But sometimes my body feels about 63.

FRB: Height?

John: 5'8 and a half... gotta give me that half.

FRB: Ape Index?

John: About +2 inches

FRB: Weight?

John: Last time I checked about 153 pounds, so I hope I'm still around there.

FRB: Political Affiliation?

John: Questions like this always blow because it's bound to make some one mad. But what'a ya gonna do... I'm definitely a Democrat.

FRB: How long have you been climbing?

John: I've been climbing for just over 2 years.

FRB: How did you get into climbing, John?

John: I went back home after my freshman year of college and built a little cave in my garage, which I built to stop me from just climbing buildings. I would pick a road and drive down it until I found a building I thought I could climb, and I'd climb it. I just became obsessed, like most people that climb.

FRB: What brings you to the Front Range?

John: I moved here about 5 months ago to climb hard and get stronger. And I really needed a break from school.

FRB: Have you done any first ascents?

John: Well none really worth mentioning but the other day it was snowing in the park so me and Wade and Seth put up a couple little fun things on this boulder off the side of the road. But besides that I haven't really found anything worth putting up.

FRB: Why bouldering instead of trad
          or Sport climbing?

John: I like the powerful moves involved. I like that you can just climb on some boulders and hang out with your buddies. There's a quote that I'm gonna gank from one of my top ten movies, Seven Years in Tibet, which is a rad flick, any ways, goes like this, Brad Pitt is asked what he likes about climbing and he says, The absolute simplicity, that's what I love. When you are climbing your mind is clear, free from all confusions. You have focus, and suddenly light becomes sharper, sounds are richer, and you are filled with the deep, powerful presence of life.

FRB: What are some of your favorite boulder problems?

John: I think Deep Puddle Dynamics is awesome. Also I really liked Right el Jorge and this thing called Mr. Hanky looks rad, in upper chaos, but I haven't tried it yet. Tommy's Arete is obviously great and .. Well crap I could name about everything in the park so forget that. I thought The Pinch Overhang was awesome. There's so many good problems and so many I've not even tried I could go on and on but I'll spare you.

FRB: Do you have any 'heroes' that you look up
          to for inspiration?

John: For sure. There's plenty of people that inspire me but I think, most of all, the people that inspire me most are my parents. They have always tried to help me make good decisions and be a nice person. But even when I'm like my boy The Rizzle, who "always makes the worst decisions," they still do everything they can to help me and have given me great opportunities in my life. So yeah, as far as being a good person my mom and dad are definitely heros to me and inspire me most. When it comes to climbing I don't have one person that makes me climb well or look up to them the most. Rather it makes me excited to climb when others are just as psyched as I am to play rock climbing. So on a whole I think it's my friends trying hard and helping each other out that makes me want to or feel like I can climb harder each time I try.

FRB: What are your long-term goals?

John: Right now my long time goal is to be healthy. I seemed to be plagued with injuries. I also have been trying, and continue to try, not to get frustrated and angry when climbs aren't going the way I would like. When I first started to climb I could be a little hot headed So I'm working on staying relaxed; I feel that makes for a better atmosphere. Also it'd be nice if I could keep improving over time.

FRB: What gym do you climb at John?

John: I climb at The Spot Gym in Boulder.

FRB: Why the Spot Gym?

John: Because The Spot's rad. They set great routes and there's real nice people that work there. Back home I used to climb at a place that some people wouldn't talk to you if you didn't climb hard so there was always a lot of negative energy. However, at The Spot they don't really care how hard you pull. Everyone's nice to everyone, from what I can tell, and this makes the gym a good place to hang out and climb at.

FRB: Are you sponsored?

John: Yeah I climb for a couple companies. I wear Evolv climbing shoes and I am also sponsored by Austria Alpin USA, which is a newer company in the U.S. They have real good light equipment and set me up with my sport rack and are real nice people. The web site is being worked on but check them out at: Austrialpinusa.com.

FRB: Why Evolv shoes?

John: Why man? Well I'm gonna go with mostly cause the Predators rock. The rubber is just super good for me it works better than the V10's or Mantras outside and on plastic they definitely stick like crazy. So yeah, I guess just 'cause they climb really well.

FRB: What other sports do you do?

John: I used to play soccer. Actually I played for about 17 years I think, through freshman year of college. Then I stopped and kinda traded one obsession for another and picked up climbing.

FRB: Who do you usually climb with?

John: I usually climb with a ton of different people to be honest. But on a super regular basis I climb with my man McCauley Chalk'n, Wade, Mark, Dave Dizzle, Seth, Ben, Sander, Lee, Brian, Mike, Bruce, Daniel, Brandon, Russ, Andy, Ricky and the Gayrage crew from back home. I don't know all sorts of people, pretty much if you're nice and psyched, I'm down.

FRB: Got any projects right now?

John: For sure. I'm super psyched on the problem at Chaos Canyon called The GoBot. It's just really rad with this super sick lock off to this terribly sharp hold that really hurts. Also at Joe's Valley I got really psyched about this thing called Beyond Life that's this beautiful line. Freaking rad. Also at Joe's is this neat thing called Trent's Mom.

FRB: What do you dislike about the Front Range
          climbing/bouldering scene?

John: So far the only little problem I see is with people having "secret areas" and won't tell other people about it cause they want to be cool with a secret area all to themselves or something which I think holds back the community and is kind of selfish. But I haven't really seen that happen to a lot on a whole just something I've over heard once or twice, so I don't think it's an everyday kinda thing.

FRB: What do you like about the FR climbing scene?

John: For the most part I like everything so far about the scene. Everyone has been real open to show me areas and give beta on problems. So far it's been an awesome experience cause there's great people out here.

FRB: You're from the Midwest.
          What was life in the Midwest like?

John: Besides the region I lived in, it was great. My family and a ton of people that I love are back in the Chicago area. I wish I could move them all out here. I'm gonna be pretty excited to be away from weather in Chicago like, "wind chill", "lake effect snow", and "heat index." Hearing the weather man say the high for today is 35 degrees but with the wind chill it should be about negative 3 degrees for most of the day. That was always a bummer.

FRB: Who did you climb with in the Midwest?

John: The gayrage crew of course. Tags, Mergis, the Rizzle, Billy, Trevor, Nathan and Andy, Stoner Al and Brian, Joe, Tutor, VE Phil and Lindsay, Frank, Nancy, Johnny, To Tall Todd, Huy, Jason, Molls would usually chill in the gay and at comps, and the crew from the Red, Peter, Andrew, John, Whittney, Mike, JR, Dario, and all the other people that were down there all the time. And ahead of time I am sorry if I forget to mention someone, I definitely didn't mean to exclude anyone and if I did it was an accident.

FRB: What were some of your favorite areas
          in the Midwest?

John: The gay gay (for you 'all that don't know when I say gay gay, or the gayrage, I'm referring to the wall in my garage. These are just nicknames), and Red River Gorge.

FRB: Any suggestions to beginners on how to climb hard?

John: Well when I start pulling hard I'll be sure to let you know. But for some advise to beginners psyched on improving, I'd say it's key to stay excited and the easiest way to do that for me is to surround myself with people that want to get better and have as much fun as you do when they rock climb.

FRB: Thanks for the interview, John.

John: No prob man. Thank you, it was fun chatting.

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