Alex Savage

Living out of a truck, car, or van isn’t as rough as it sounds. It quickly makes you realize that you don’t need much to live happily. For me the key to being content living on four wheels is to have a good sleeping setup! If you have a comfortable bed to go “home” to every night then you will be happy! If I had to sleep on a thermarest for a year I would have given up this lifestyle a long time ago!! Beyond a bed, what do you really need? Everything else seems to fall into place. I cook on my tailgate which is easy and works fine. Having a van with a built out setup for cooking etc would be awesome but it isn’t necessary by any means.

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Since my former life with a home and a 9 to 5 job, a lot has happened! I have traveled to a lot of places, met amazing people in each place and I climbed a LOT of boulders! Here are a few stats from the past 1.5 years of my life:

• Miles traveled: 39,500 miles. 30,400 by air and 9,100 by car. For perspective, the circumference of the earth is less than 25,000 miles!
• Continents: 3
• Countries: 6
• States: 19
• Longest flight: 8,400 miles direct from Johannesburg to Atlanta. 16 hours in the air!
• $$ spent: ~$10,000 for the six month trip to Europe and South Africa. Haven’t tallied any US travel expenses yet.
• Boulders climbed: 1,500. Total guess based on 3 days a week climbing and 7 ascents per day (not necessarily new or hard ascents). I think this is the reason I feel a lot more comfortable on rock than when I started. I’m not climbing much harder but I’m more well rounded and technically proficient than when I started the trip!
• Double digit boulders climbed: 55
• Hard boulders climbed during two-month Fontainebleau trip: 1
• Time required to send first hard boulder in Switzerland: 2 hours
• Nights spent in a hotel: 5 (family sponsored!)
• Times stuck in the snow: 2
• Nights spent in the truck: 150
• V9’s flashed: 22
• Favorite part of traveling: the unexpected connections with people that change your course and experience
• Least favorite: not having a home
• Favorite area: Rocklands, South Africa
• Most impressive thing I have done: created 10,000+ hours of entertainment through bouldering videos watched in over 90 countries
• Biggest failure: The Vice V13, Rocklands.  Hard compression was a new challenge for me!  Projected for 10 or 11 days.  Got through the cruxes on one of my last days but couldn’t pull it off!
• Time spent at McDonalds on the internet/editing video: way too much!
• Biggest mistake: renting a 35 year old beetle in South Africa!
• Places visited that I want to live: Bellinzona Switzerland, and Leavenworth Washington
• Favorite rock: South-East sandstone
• Most desperate moment: When some of my belongings ended up in my friends car when they left Rocklands to head home.  I was left with no car, no tent, no sleeping bag, and no jacket!  I was saved by the rad community of climbers living in Rocklands so it worked out fine but I felt alone for a minute there!
• Favorite boulder problem: Tie between Splash of Red V10 in Rocklands and Wet Dream V12 in Red Rocks Nevada
• Scariest send: Kill List V11, Joe’s Valley Utah.  Sent 3rd try ground up and was not expecting it!  Should have at least looked at the top on top-rope first!  My fingers were going numb and I started to have an asthma attack topping out!  ahh!
• Most epic send: Vecchio Leone V13.  Sent with a hurt back, couldn’t stand up afterwards and went to the hospital the next morning! Honorable mention goes to Green in the Face V13 which was a huge mental battle to climb it by myself.
• Girls impressed by climbing V13: 0

When I started climbing I NEVER would have imagined my climbing would have progressed the way it has and I never would have imagined climbing would take me to such amazing places and given me so many great experiences. The reason I say that is to encourage everyone that you can do it too. If you want to climb V10 or grade X, put in the time and energy and I bet you can make it happen. I think the people that progress the quickest aren’t necessarily the most talented, they are the most motivated. If you climb a lot and you try HARD every time you pull on the rock then you’re on your way to your goal, whatever that may be. I would also encourage everyone to focus on more than a number goal.  Numbers are a good indication of strength but don’t say much about technique or style which are at least as important as strength.  I’m more impressed by someone that is well rounded and can climb consistently and look good doing it than someone who can occasionally bust off a harder climb.  If you live in a place like Fontainebleau this will come easily due to the nature of the rock but if you mostly climb in the gym or in steep areas then you may have to go out of your way to get on a slab or techy climb.

The same applies for travel. Sometimes people get in the habit of dismissing a goal or dream because it seems unrealistic for them. If you want to go to Fontainebleau or South Africa, then make it happen! I’m not the most motivated person in the world, so if I can do it, so can you! Save up some money, make sacrifices if you have to.  I’ve met a LOT of climbers that don’t make much money but they will live out of their van or truck during the year just so they can take that big trip to South Africa or Europe.  Lots have been doing it year after year.  They may not be the wealthiest people you know but they love to climb and travel so that’s what they do!  Not everyone is willing to live out of their car but there is always a way to reach a goal.

Ok that’s enough advice for one blog post!  Go climb!  Go travel!