Speed Climbing: An interview with four-time X Games silver medalist Chris Bloch

Filed in archive Interviews on June 27, 2005

PART ONE

Speed climbing is a different kind of sports activity. It combines many of the traditional aspects of rock climbing, but adds a competitive and "fast-twitch" vibration that etches out its own unique niche in the world of climbing. Some consider it to be the "ugly stepsister" of the climbing world. It has opponents who do not respect the sport and frown upon it, but I would argue that most of those people are traditionalists who resist change. People who would much rather be deep in the heart of the wilderness banging away at a giant precipice for hours and sometimes days. Because I have witnessed the sport firsthand, I see nothing but excitement and promise from this new breed of climbing. Of course, I am a competitive person, so when I see a race, there is always going to be something attractive to me about the event. However, instead of getting past a finish line, to be a victor at speed climbing you have to go up a vertical wall smack a big red button at the top, and then glide down on rappel ropes hoping you reached the top before your opponent. I caught up with Chris Bloch, an American pioneer and ambassador of the sport, to discuss some of his experiences. He has four silver medals and a bronze to show for his efforts at the X-Games from 1995-2000, as well as three wins, two seconds and two thirds at the ACSF national finals over roughly that same span of time. Today Chris is a firefighter in Contra Costa county and still keeps fresh at the Mission Cliffs climbing walls in San Francisco. Here is an exerpt from our interview:

Do you believe that rock climbing and specifically the training that goes into becoming a speed climber, has allowed you to cross over into other sports and physical activities?




ACTUALLY I PLAYED ORGANIZED BASKETBALL WHEN I WAS A KID, BUT OUR TEAM SUCKED AND SO DID OUR COACH SO I DIDN'T LEARN MUCH. MY MAIN SPORT UNTIL COLLEGE WAS SOCCER, AND I PLAYED ON STOCKTON'S TRAVELING TEAM, SO IT WAS PRETTY MUCH A YEAR-ROUND THING. I ALSO PLAYED BASEBALL, GOLF, SWAM, ETC, SO I HAVE BEEN ATHLETIC MY WHOLE LIFE. I DO THINK THE EXPOSURE TO TEAM SPORTS AND THE COACHING I RECEIVED IN SOCCER, GAVE ME A STRONGER WORK ETHIC IN TERMS OF TRAINING, AND BEING ON MANY 1ST PLACE TEAMS MADE ME WANT TO WIN ALL THE TIME. THE CLIMBING CAME WELL AFTER MY INVOLVEMENT WITH TEAM SPORTS; SO ITHINK THE CROSSOVER WAS FROM TRADITIONAL SPORTS TO CLIMBING.

I have to go to the X Games for a minute here . . .
Watching you personally at the X Games held in San
Francisco several years in a row, my impression is
that you are a competitor and that your climbing is
driven partly by this competitive aspect of your
character. Do you agree, disagree, and why?

I AM A SORE LOSER, PLAIN AND SIMPLE. I AM A SORE WINNER TOO. EVEN IF I BEAT EVERYONE ELSE, IF I HAVEN'T PERFORMED TO MY POTENTIAL, I AM NOT SATISFIED. THE ONLY TIME I CAN SAY I WAS SATISFIED WITH NOT WINNING WAS AT THE LAST X-GAMES IN PHILADELPHIA WHEN I WAS BEATEN BY AN 18 YEAR OLD, WHEN I WAS 30. IT WAS KIND OF A "PASSING OF THE TORCH" THING WHERE I REALIZED I HAD TAKEN IT AS FAR AS I COULD TAKE IT, AND IT WAS TIME TO LET SOMEONE ELSE HAVE THE SPOTLIGHT. PEOPLE STILL ASK ME IF I WILL GO BACK IF THE X-GAMES DOES CLIMBING AGAIN, AND I AM HAPPY TO SAY NO. BEEN THERE, DONE THAT, MY SHOULDERS STILL HURT!