Over the past six months, I’ve become addicted to climbing. I never thought it was possible, but sometimes I’ll even skip a surf session to explore new routes or hone my technique at the climbing gym. The sport is a mental puzzle just as much as a physical challenge. And more often than not, the wall will leave you defeated, at which point all you can do is keep pushing on.
As a stoked newbie, I thought it would be cool to learn from someone who has dedicated his life to the sport. I was lucky enough to interview professional climber and high-liner, Ray Diaz. As you can imagine, Ray is a mellow, centered dude who lives for the moment. He grew up in San Clemente, Calif. and is a surfer and skater as well. Not to mention, he climbs far beyond his years and continues to push what’s possible in the world of highlining.
How’d you get into climbing and high lining?
I actually always wanted to climb. I used to work for an organization and did some training with them and eventually made my way to a climbing gym. One day I ran into some old buddies of mine from high school who I knew climbed and that same weekend we went to Joshua Tree. That’s when I really got into outdoor climbing and at that point I was addicted. I loved the lifestyle of just living in the dirt, living cheaply and just raging on rocks with some solid friends.
How does indoor climbing translate to outdoor?
Gym climbing is great. It gets you really strong so you can make harder and harder routes as you progress. That definitely helps get your technique where it needs to be for when you go outside. I think it’s really cool how the two work together.
Surf check Photos: Hippy Tree
What gets you the most stoked, climbing new routes or setting up new highlines?
Having new projects and setting goals. Whether it be climbing or highlining, just having that next challenge that I want to accomplish gets me stoked. Also, climbing and highlining bring me to beautiful places full of cool people.
Any advice for those recently initiated into the sport? Like me?
As long as you’re passionate about it, just keep doing it. Everything is training whether you’re climbing something super easy or something super hard. Even when I’m climbing something easy, I like to do it really slowly so that all the moves are as static and controlled as possible. That develops strength and good technique. So when you’re climbing something more challenging, it eventually becomes easier to stay calm and collected.
Señor Diaz in Yosemite.
Any immediate projects you’re working on?
My girlfriend and I plan on getting a van, saving up a bunch of money, and documenting our adventures full time. I’m definitely going to keep climbing and high lining while further developing as a photographer. I also eventually want to have my own piece of land, maybe in northern California. I think living completely off the land and being fully sustainable would be an ideal lifestyle. I would also like to build my own place. Nothing big, just something simple.
Define true happiness for Ray Diaz?
True happiness is being fully content in the moment you’re in. That’s what I find with climbing, high lining, surfing, and skating. All of these things keep you in the moment and are ways of forced meditation. That’s why I love climbing – even when I do long multi-pitch stuff thousands of feet high, I’m not worried about the height, I’m only worried about each hold. I’m never thinking about what I did earlier in the day, each move I make on that wall becomes my reality. And the culmination of staying focused on present moment is when I’m the happiest.
Wrapping up a session at home in San Clemente.
