Part 2

Greetings!

Here we are. Between school, work, and a rather dry spring in climbing I have admittedly been neglecting this climbing-business side of my life. Alas. For this installment, I chatted with CMC Ambassador Sophie Buitendyk. This blog post is a reflection of my life lately: good, but chaotic!

First, my friends have been crushing lately, and I find it delightful. There’s a story behind all of these, of course, but here’s me spraying for my friends:

Tyson Martino, Existence Mundane, Acephale, Alberta, and THE PATH!!!!! Lake Louise, Alberta.
Hoai-Nam Bui, The Oracle, Squamish.
Anthony Walsh, The Masses are Asses, Squamish.
Mooey Collins, The Man From Del Monte, Squamish.
Zach Bailey, Death in the Afternoon, Grotto Canyon, Alberta.
Eli Bucher, Free Will entirely on trad gear. First (known) all-gear ascent of the Big Show wall. I repeated it a few days after. It is amazing and you really ought to try it.
Didier Berthod, The Crack of Destiny (First ascent), Squamish.

I am proud of and inspired by you all! What a time to be alive!

Interview: Sophie Buitendyk.

Sophie is 22. She started climbing when she was 8 years old in the gym and grew up in the competition scene. Now, she’s a university student and her climbing has blossomed into a mix of competitions and bouldering outside. Despite both of us being in Squamish, being Gen Z folk, we chatted over Zoom. Sophie and I had never spoken before, and I appreciated her openness. She has an obvious excitement and curiosity for climbing and life.

The italicized words below are hers, edited for clarity and length.

What gets me out of bed? I have peanut butter every morning. I always look forward to that. 

***

I grew up with a twin brother. He was always really athletic, and I didn’t see myself that way. My parents made me do this cross-country race when I was a kid, and I won. I surprised myself and began to see myself a bit differently. I started to see myself as athletic. 

***

On competing.

I started really young—when I was 8—in the gym. I think it was perfect for me. [Growing up] I was part of the youth teams at The Hive and Base5. It was such a good community; all my closest friends were part of the team. Being a teenager is so hard, but having that [the team, climbing] to look forward to every day made that time much better. 

I’m very competitive, so I jumped into comps right away. It was good. There were times when I was really hard on myself, but I learnt a lot. It kept me motivated. Good and bad, I guess. 

I had taken a gap year [after high school], thinking “I’m gonna train and just do comps!” and it didn’t go so well. I was like “Do I really enjoy it?” Then COVID hit. Then I got really into snowboarding. 

 I took the COVID year off of comps. I was feeling burnt out. But now I’m psyched again. 

It was nice coming back because I had lost the expectations I had had before. I was able to go in a bit more freely. That was really nice. It gave me a greater appreciation for comps, I really missed it. 

On motivations for competing. 

After comps, I’m usually pretty inspired. I always want to do better and I’m psyched to train after. It is a good feeling when you know you did your best; like “everything I’ve been doing is working.”

You get fired up, but it is only temporary. Which just in general is a hard thing about life. 

Recent reflections. 

One thing I’m starting to appreciate more is everything my parents did for me as a kid. I don’t think I quite realized the sacrifices they made for me when I was younger. But now, trying to support myself and my climbing, is hard! So that is one thing I’ve started to appreciate more these days.

Also, when I was younger, it was just comp climbing. Now I’m trying to find a nice balance between comp climbing and climbing outside. I didn’t get into climbing outside until I got a car and was able to drive to Squamish [from Abbotsford]. As soon as I got a car, I was always gone! Mostly bouldering, but I don’t know, I was kind of just super lost at first in the boulders. There was so much to try, it was so exciting! 

On school.

I’m taking Geography and Environmental Studies at UVIC. I really enjoy what I’m learning. I’ve had to learn time management: following a schedule, and being efficient. It is a lot to fit into a day. I’ll have classes all day, then a morning session, then an evening session. I think it is also about making sacrifices. I’m a bit of a perfectionist so I’ve had to learn to let go of that, on assignments for example. It’s also impossible to have time for everyone, I’ve had to learn how to prioritize my relationships as well.

On inspiration.

I always get super psyched when I see someone who is older and is still crushing. I always get psyched thinking “I can do this my whole life.” Maybe that’s a weird answer but I always get really psyched when I see older people trying hard. There’s not really one person that inspires me though, lots of different people in lots of different ways.

On climbing now.

I have 4 months off school and I was like ugh, I should go to Squamish. I love the community here, how you can just walk around the forest and meet good people.

So currently, I’m projecting “Encore Une Fois” and “The Egg”—kind of, but I also tried trad climbing for the first time! That was kind of sick! 

I like bouldering cause I just go alone if I want to. It is nice to have the freedom to go on your own.