On rest days
I don't like taking rest days. There's so much climbing to sample that taking days off makes me feel like I am missing out on something new. Still, skateboarding, boulder/cliff searching, writing, listening to music, and watching movies are some of the things I do on an off day. I especially like to write when I'm not climbing. It is fun to post blogs for others to read about what you're establishing -- I know I get motivated to read my friend's blogs and see what they're up to.

Tracking progress
I grew up in Boulder and developed myself as a climber here. The one thing that is really special to me about Colorado is tracking my progression over time. In the past, when I was climbing 8A (v11) and 8b+ (5.14a), there were so many futuristic projects that I thought of as impossible, but my goal was to become good enough to do them. I have now climbed the "impossible" and have a new futuristic ticklist. Only at your home area can you gauge your progression and push your standards. This is because you can spend more time searching for new potential. Luckily, Colorado offers a surplus of climbing, allowing you to do so.

Strength, energy, and inspiration
I get psyched when I find a new line that hasn't been completed. I like the process of figuring out moves and overcoming failure to complete the moves. When the climb is finished, it's your trophy to hold onto.

I am inspired by Chris [Sharma], Dave [Graham], Jon [Cardwell], Joe [Kinder], and Adam [Ondra]. These guys are psyched on developing new climbs and have good energy. I like anyone who is psyched on what they're doing and gives it their all to complete a project.

Travel and balance
Climbing provides me the opportunity to see new places, experience travel in a very rich form, meet people from all over the world that enrich my life, and lets me be in the mountains most of my time. Climbing also fills me with drive and passion, two things that I find very important and vital. I love the movement of climbing, I love the community and I love the mountains. I don’t like how it can wear down the human body. As an athlete, I want to push my body and mind to the limit. Unfortunately, we’re human, but I think that is all part of finding the balance with how to incorporate climbing into your life for the long term.

I love running, biking, hiking, cooking and baking. I think all of these allow me to enjoy certain parts of life that I find rewarding and important. The athletic endeavors allow me to push myself physically and see different parts of the landscape of the world. Cooking and baking allow me to share good food with people - which I find invaluable. I love working with the food to create something that we can all enjoy.

Favorite places 
My favorite place is Yosemite. I am very lucky to be able to make my home there. I also love the Bay Area of California as it provides a good balance with the solitude of mountain life of Yosemite.

The natural landscape of Yosemite is unmatched. I could sit in El Cap meadow for hours upon hours and stare at El Cap. There is a special connection that climbers get in Yosemite, the sparrows flying behind you on the wall, the dogwoods blooming on the Valley floor, the echo of the waterfalls in the background, the serene landscape of the high country; it’s endless.

The Bay area is completely different. The attention to quality of food is incredible. Fresh, local, organic food is abundant. The respect that the farmers give to their land reminds me of climbers’ respect for the mountains. 

A strong community
I feel close to my local community. They love climbing for climbing and it’s lifestyle. They don’t get too caught up in only climbing the hardest thing out there, but rather enjoying climbing for why we all started – fun. This allows them to try hard and inspire people with their amazing attitudes. It’s something that has become more and more important to me over the years.

I have a very strong inner drive and desire to push myself. I find it inspiring when others are able to have fun and push themselves as hard as possible. I would hope that I portray that same energy.

The importance of mentors
I think teaching others is one of the most important aspects of the climbing community. I learned most of my climbing values from the generation before me, and I find that invaluable. I think sharing with kids who are starting out enriches our community and what we find important. I feel it’s especially important to share the things I’ve learned with women (I think being able to climb with other women is very important) and with kids.

Acts of Freedom

Running, like climbing a long route, involves the same mindset of solitude in movement and mental freedom. I like this singleness, but I also love being social with friends and having a good time with others.

Special Places

I love Spain, to both visit and to climb, and New York City to live! The Spanish culture is so amazing to me – I love the enthusiasm for climbing and the tranquil lifestyle. Some of the best sport climbs in the world reside in Spain and I enjoy trying to speak the language. The landscape is vast and beautiful. I love NYC because the energy in the air is palpable and there is constantly something happening. The city is full of life.

Sources of Inspiration

Every one of my friends has a certain quality that is unique and inspiring.

My Favorite Book

The Great Gatsby, for its rich depth of word choice and encouragement of dreams.

My Motto

Smile and treat others the way you like to be treated. Appreciate others' values but hold true to your own morals.

Favorite places
"I love Southern Utah for its climbing and beauty and live there for a stint each year. As well as Catalonia, Spain, which has become a bit of a home-away-from-home. It's probably my favorite place for people and the climbing."

Inspiration and energy
"I usually get all of those things from a project, a rad wall, area, or new place.  I love climbing as it is and usually just have it all the time.  I'm pretty much a freak. Just ask around."

"I also get really inspired by Dave Graham, Chris Sharma, and Dani Andrada. They are probably my biggest sources of inspiration in climbing alone."

Your motto
"Always Psyched" is mine, and I love "Only One Life To LIVE!!!"

Finding a balance
I like running and more recently have discovered skiing again after quitting at age 13 to pursue climbing. I don't enjoy only climbing all the time and prefer to have a balance, which can be hard to find when one's job title is "professional climber." I also enjoy writing and reading to escape and go into my own world when I'm traveling and heavily immersed in climbing.

Where to climb? Where to live?
Spain, of course, is my favorite spot for sport climbing, because it's just that good. I love visiting the Himalaya, in Nepal, because of its insane beauty and rich culture. I just recently moved to California to live because, in my opinion, it has everything: good weather, beaches, and mountains.

Sources of inspiration
I find strength, energy, and inspiration through traveling, meeting people, having adventures, and experiencing new cultures. Sasha DiGiulian is also an inspiration for stepping it up for all females and doing what she loves without concerning herself with negativity. I consider Conrad Anker, our team captain on The North Face Team, to be a mentor. He's a badass and loves what he does. I was on Everest with him this past spring. I've never seen someone so psyched to be suffering. He's passionate and motivated to share his love for the outdoors, which I think it super inspiring.

Personal motto 
Do not accept unwanted advice; write your own story. 

A rapid progression from climbing gyms to big walls
«My life as a climber can be summed up as primarily competition climbing in the beginning, and then bouldering, and now mostly climbing on big sport routes and big walls.
 
 
Just after I started climbing, it became obvious to me that I should become a professional climber. As soon as I finished high school I packed my bags and left. I left my flat homeland to climb as much as possible.
 
 
I saw many different places around the world, some magnificent and others polluted. I found rock everywhere. Without a doubt, my favorite spot to recharge and relax is Reunion Island. The island is simply paradise.»
 
 

First free ascents with my tin whistle
«I love climbing. It’s the challenge. Moving over rock, giving it everything, exploring. I like all styles of climbing. Good quality, bulletproof rock with perfect holds is amazing to climb, and so is wet, mossy, chossy off-widths. It adds to the adventure, and makes it… interesting. Climbing is my way to live life. I can travel, meet amazing people, share experiences and live incredible adventures. Big wall free climbing teaches you everything about life. It makes you live the moment. You can really feel things, you can really taste food, and you can really feel the rock shredding your fingers as the blood oozes out. There is nothing I don’t like about big wall free climbing. Any activity I do is related to climbing really. I like to slackline. It teaches me to be in an optimal state of mind in which thought, emotion and experience become one. It brings me to a state where the notion of time does not exist, everything happens in the here and now, where everything is connected. The same state of mind as when the climbing flows. My tin whistle is an essential part of my climbing equipment. When I’m dangling high up a vertical cliff, stuck in a storm in a small portaledge for days in a row, my tin whistle is there to make sure that I’m not waiting. I’m being. I play music.»
 
My favorite place is planet Earth
«I like wild and remote places and preferably with big rock walls. Places I have visited include Yosemite, Patagonia, Pakistan, Baffin Island and Greenland. There are many other places on the planet that I would like to visit.»
 
My goal in life: to meet, to share, to inspire
«I like to share my experiences and adventures and I do so through writing articles, making films and giving slide shows. It is very important. It’s great to be able to inspire people to live their dreams. I also think it is meaningful to share with people the importance of respecting the rock, the mountains and nature and to have good vibes. I would like to continue doing what I do, and go and explore big walls in remote and wild places.»
 
Sean’s anecdote
«One of my most difficult moments on a Big Wall, was on the Central Tower of Torres Del Paine in Chilean Patagonia. On day five of an eleven day ascent, while going to the bathroom in a storm, hanging 150 m off the ground, my last piece of toilet paper flew away! Forcing me to continue the rest of the ascent with rocks, ice and whatever I could find really!»

Landscapes I prefer the most?
«With the Team, there are so many new and unique places to discover. We take an original approach to developing new areas and to putting up new routes, which always out in the wilderness somewhere. The best are bouldering spots like Bishop, Millau, the Tarn valley, outside Briançon, Entraigues, and Roche de Rame. I feel relaxed in the mountains. Perhaps it’s an inherent need for peace and quiet...»
 
To feel like I’m progressing
«What do I like about climbing? I don’t know. I just enjoy it. I don’t have any long term goals. But when I’m in the moment it’s a powerful feeling. Climbing is an overall experience, something that recharges my battery. I don’t enjoy sending a route for the sake of sending a route, what I enjoy is progressing, moving forward. I like to succeed in feeling comfortable with the route, like a day that just goes well without knowing exactly why.»
 
And the future?
«I don’t really think about it. Time will tell. I’d like to continue climbing as much as possible. I don’t see myself working in climbing all my life until retirement. That’s not my thing. I’m neither interested in becoming a certified climbing instructor, nor in creating a company to coach or to train climbers. At the same time, I can’t imagine my life without climbing. For everything else, I’m confident that it will all work out. In the beginning, I had a hard time convincing my parents to let me stop going to school. Now they fully support me; a big thanks to them. They only ask that I do the best I can in life, and to be serious about what I like to do. Since I’m almost 17, I should be at least somewhat focused.»
 
Any difficulties or limitations?
«I need to work more on those areas where I do not excel. For example I need to be more disciplined in working on endurance. That said, I don’t compete, so I don’t have that limitation. Competitions take up too much time. Indoor climbing is not at all representative of what I like to do. It’s something else. I’m not able to express myself when climbing plastic. For me, it has nothing to do with the sport, with the freedom of climbing in the great outdoors.»
 
In life…
«The people with whom I’m the closest are climbers. At this point in time I only hang out with climbers, often climbers who in the 16 to 24 age group. My favorite book is "The Centenarian Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared", by Jonas Jonasson. My favorite film is "A Serious Man", by the Coen brothers.»
 
Enzo's anecdote
«During an evening get together with friends in March, 2011, I said to a friend ‘do you want to go climbing?’ He said okay. So I took him to the top of a crane at a nearby construction site to do a pendulum. He had never put on a harness in his life. It’s three in the morning, and we have no right to be there, no headlamps, and no helmets. We’re both sixteen years old. We had a rope, a GRIGRI, and one quickdraw between the two of us. He took forever to climb from one rung to another. We wanted to swing like the trapeze at the circus, but halfway up the crane’s boom, he collapsed, exhausted and scared. What a mess. Charles was just hanging there. At least we were roped up. I was pulled to the side. I then lowered him down and things turned out just fine.»
 
What they say about Enzo:
Mike Fuselier
«Enzo is young, which means that he is totally unpredictable and spontaneous. Climbing with Enzo is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get… There are plenty of stories to tell, but here’s a good one. The story takes place in Cuba, at a guest house. During a discussion about American movies, Enzo talks about the boldness of Jean-Claude Van Damme, who takes a coconut to the abs when dropped from 10 meters above. To prove his nerve, we decided that he should experience a similar feat of strength, so we blindfolded him and started pummeling his powerful abdominal muscles with a few water bottles. He went from being a little nervous to wanting to see just how powerful a blow he could take. The dare only lasted a few minutes and Enzo took on the onslaught of bottle blows no problem… at the time. But the next day, his stomach covered in bruises demonstrated just how much he really took. "It’ll help build abs, which are good for locking off", Enzo said. All in good humor…»
 
Aymeric Clouet
«When we were with Arnaud in Morocco, in the Taghia region of Atlas Mountains, we were explaining basic aid technique to Enzo, how to use hooks, various safety measures, and how to use ascenders to climb up a rope. At some point in the discussion it was clear that Enzo had stopped paying attention and was no longer listening. Arnaud and I decided to stop for the day thinking that we would pick up where we left of later. Just afterwards we could tell that he had understood everything. Enzo learns quickly, is able to apply everything right away, and in addition has a great memory. He’s amazing.»
 
Nina Caprez
«I have a wonderful memory of when we were in Cuba. The title of the story could be, ‘psychoanalysis.’
On our last day in Cuba we went to the beach. In general Enzo is not too nit-picky when it comes to how clean his clothes are. But on this particular day he took a change of clean clothes for after the beach. He was already cleaned up and ready for the bus trip back while the rest of us were still in our bathing suits when Cédric found nothing better to do than to spray Coca-Cola all over Enzo’s clothes. Given how rare the situation was for Enzo (perfectly clean white clothes), the moment that followed was classic. Enzo got all angry and yelled, "What the hell, I was perfect!" Everyone ended up having a good laugh, including Enzo once he realized what he had said. There you have it, "I was perfect", Enzo’s new saying.»

Exclusive
«The people who inspire me are those who do things passionately with focus, whatever their level. I discovered climbing with my dad, who took me climbing for the first time when I was around eight. During my youth, I never imagined being able to make a living by climbing. I never saw myself being a technical consultant for a brand, like René Desmaison, nor writing books or organizing expeditions, filming, or giving conferences. Yet only climbing mattered, and I really admired people like Gaston Rébuffat and his books (The Hundred Finest Routes), or those who invented new gear. What I really love is putting up new multi-pitch routes, imagining a line and checking to see if it works, either ground-up or on rappel, depending on the wall. It’s undoubtedly a privilege to be the first to send these new routes. There’s no rating to go on, which means a good deal of uncertainty that forces me to focus and climb in the moment. I like skirting that limit where I might fall while trying something that seems more than a little uncertain. I sometimes joke that “I specialize in all disciplines”, which really means being average at everything! To do this kind of work, you need willpower, you need to apply yourself, and you also need to be somewhat creative. You need to be able to get some perspective on things and know how to anticipate.»
 
My favorite spots are Céüse, and Taghia in Morocco
- «Ceüse, is where I started dreaming about climbing really hard routes. I live right near the cliff, which allows me to take advantage of the site off-season, when it's less crowded.»
- «Taghia is a place I've spent a lot of time climbing in, and I've developed a connection with the villagers there. It's a close relationship, given the extended periods of time I've lived there.»
 
My motto
«Freedom means knowing how to recognize what's really necessary.»
 
Arnaud’s anecdote
«I really enjoyed belaying and supporting Stéphanie when she led Free Rider on El Capitan. I thought to myself how lucky I was to have a front-row seat to watch the love of my life accomplish such an amazing feat.»