interviews
One Day at Pawtuckaway
When the Salt Pump crew hits Pawtuckaway, they try hard and laugh often in equal measure. Each fall, as the leaves begin to drop and the air starts to chill, the razor sharp boulders of Pawtuckaway State Park in Nottingham, New Hampshire, lure bloc-hungry climbers from near and far. When a youthful crew of some…
Read more...Member Spotlight: Jean Juliano
Maine life comes easy to Jean Juliano, even if her current home in Portland is a long way from where she was raised – the island of Kaua’i in Hawaii. “I like living the coastal life like I did growing up on an island, but here I can venture farther and the roads don’t end.…
Read more...Inside Game no. 8: Michaela Tracy
Michaela Tracy on “Numb Thumb” (V7) at Pawtuckaway State Park. FINDING HER ZONE Michaela Tracy has always struggled to define home. The daughter of two American ex-pats, she was born in London, where her father Jack worked for more than twenty years. As she spent the majority of her early life in the UK, Michaela…
Read more...Inside Game no. 7: Mike Morin
Our Man in the Trenches “It’s funny, people’s idea about what a bolt or fixed protection is,” says Mike Morin, the Access Fund’s Northeast Regional Director. “If you’re not a climber, ‘bolting’ can sound so ominous. A big part of my job is to explain and break down those barriers.” A self-described access “nerd”, Morin…
Read more...Becoming a Climbing Family
There is a certain moment when a person undergoes a metamorphosis, transforming from someone who climbs to a climber. For this family, their youngest son Declan was the catalyst for that transformation. Not only did Declan become a climber, but his family became a climbing family. Now, Declan, his brother Eamon, and parents Lee and Rachel climb as a…
Read more...Member Spotlight: Mark and Debbi Currier
Mark and Debbi Currier joined Salt Pump earlier this year. In the few brief months we’ve known them, we’ve been inspired by their powerful psyche for the sport of climbing, and impressed at their ability to squeeze visits to Salt Pump into their extra-hectic day-to-day lives. 1. Where is “home”? Milton, NH. 2. What’s…
Read more...Member Spotlight: Dianne Roberts
Dianne Roberts, 69 years old, has been climbing for just two months. She is originally from the Portland area and now lives in Gorham. Between those two locations, about twenty years, she and her husband John early retired to Park City, Utah to ski and travel the west. They ‘ski bummed’ all over Utah, volunteered…
Read more...John Patrick: Member Spotlight
Many Salt Pumpers know member John Patrick as the scrappy, bearded fellow who can’t get enough of our lead wall. Few may realize, however that John, an incurable climber, leads a double life as the Reverend of the Demark Congregational Church, “a small village Church with a big heart and a global vision”. As a…
Read more...Inside Game no. 4: Joe Terravecchia
Joe Terravecchia first lay eyes on Pissing Mare Falls in remote Western Brook Pond, Newfoundland, twenty years ago. “Casey Shaw and I first tried to go there in ‘96, but they were having a shitty winter, so we went to Quebec instead,” he says. “The next year, we looked at a tourist brochure and saw…
Read more...Lisa Harmon: Member Spotlight
“Heights aren’t my fear”, says Lisa Harmon. “It’s the falling”. Still that didn’t stop Lisa, a fifty-two year old mother of her two boys who works in code enforcement, from gamely signing up for our learn to lead class. Her enthusiasm and determination were obvious to everyone in the class, and Lisa was was…
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