Colin Haley

blog: www.colinhaley.com

Do you clip bolts, plug cams, stack pads, or crush ice?:

All of the above, and I also slog snow.

How long have you been an athlete with La Sportiva?:

Three years.

What are some of your lifetime climbing goals?:

Ummmm... so many. How 'bout the Shining Wall of Gasherbrum IV, solo, in a push, with no backpack? Haha!

Do you have a claim to fame?:

Probably my closest "claim to fame" would be accompanying Rolando Garibotti on the first ascent of the Torres Traverse, Patagonia.



Do you have any vices?:

Sushi, and delicious juice smoothies - only vices because these things are so damn expensive...

What makes you tick as a climber and in the real world?:

I think that my joie de vivre is internal, but lots of things excite me, like beautiful mountains, slopes of untracked powder, a powerful layback to a perfect little crimp with a thumbcatch... and good music!

What drives you to climb? The money? The groupies?
The fame? What?:

Climbing, and especially alpinism, makes life exciting. The worse the weather, the harder the route, the more starved, dehydrated and beaten you are the end, the more memorable the experience.

What is your favorite movie?:

The self-titled film, "Jean-Marc Boivin."

Do you have any nicknames? Explain:

Child of the Abyss. When I was learning to climb serious routes, I was always younger than everyone else I climbed with. Sean Courage gave me this nickname.

What's the longest you've gone without sleep? Why?:

When I was nineteen I climbed All Along The Watchtower in the Bugaboos with my friend Mark Westman. I didn't sleep at all the night before we started the route, then we climbed through the night during the climb, and then we immediately hiked out and started driving back to Seattle the next night, adding up to about 70 hours without sleep. The hallucinations were very vivid...

If you had to be named after one of the 50 states,
which would it be?:

All 50 states have boring names. I'll take Nunavut instead!



What did you have for lunch yesterday?:

A couple sandwichs of honey wheat berry bread, with pastrami, aged swiss cheese, and cucumber. Then a Fuji apple.

If you could hook up a thought monitor to your head,
would you see pictures, hear words or would music be
playing?:

I think you would hear and see all three.

What really scares you about climbing?:

Serac avalanches.

If your life was made into a movie, what would it be called?:

Focused Chaos.

Where would you live if it could be anywhere in the world?:

Chamonix, France.

Have no food or have no gasoline?:

Huh? Ummm, I think food is certainly a much higher priority than gasoline!

Do you wish you had sexier feet?:

Hadn't thought about that, but I often have thought that it might be nice to have my big toe nails surgically and permanently removed.