One of our long-time guides and Ambassadors, Peta, was invited to the latest Frog In a Froq event as a guest speaker. Her experience in the climbing industry is very unique being one of the few female crushers in the climbing community during her time. Issy Jukes interviewed her along with a few of the well-known names in the climbing scene of Queensland.
If you could go back to climb anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
We are going back to Greece mainland this year however, there are a few places we haven’t been to that have been on our radar like Italy, Germany and Japan (now that it’s affordable). There are too many places and too little time.
Which piece of gear can you not do without when trad climbing?
It really depends on the climb but, I got really fond of ball-nuts when I started projecting the scary stuff. I remember my first time trying to use a ball-nut, it was on a climb called “Lord’s Prayer” and I cried. I thought “This thing is not going to hold me” so I had to sit on every piece (of gear) thinking “Is this going to hold?”
Did you ever take a whip on one?
No, I made sure I wasn’t going to fall. But I managed to get 4 placements in a row and I wasn’t going to fall on any one of them.
Would you prefer a 2m of off-width (climbing) or 10m of finger crack?
2m of offwidth
You are a climbing guide, and have built your whole life around climbing, is it something you accidentally fell into or was it all planned?
I accidentally fell into it. This is my 3rd career. My first career was as a Children's Book Illustrator. It was so traumatic I became a Croupier and worked at a casino. Then a friend of mine said, “Hey we’re opening up a gym, can you come and core-set for me?”. This was Urban Climb back in 2004. Then I quit the casino and became a bit of a gym-bunny and then became a guide and started doing international climbing tours and teaching and yea, just sort of, took off from there.
Were you already a climber by then?
Yes, I think that is why stopped illustrating because climbing came into the picture and took over my life. Luckily my husband climbs too.
There are a lot of people who would love to build an alternate lifestyle that's based around climbing and adventure. What nuggets of wisdom can you offer to such people?
That is a hard question. Well, we bought a house (what feels like) a century ago, so if I were to do what we did back then now, it would be a completely different experience. I kind of fell into it and I was just lucky enough to make the right decisions that would work 10 years into the future but I didn’t know that at the time. I met the right people, had good opportunities come up. And I took up them thinking, “This could be a career-ending move where I would lose everything or I’d come out of it fine” and I was lucky enough that it turned out to be fine. So I would say that being open to opportunities and being flexible enough to change directions is a good way to go about it. Being totally addicted to climbing also helps.
What are some current challenges and areas of opportunity within your climbing? - How have you overcome challenges in life and climbing / How have certain periods of transition affected your climbing?
Well, to answer that simply, everything we earn is to save for our next climbing trip overseas. That being said, I will probably never really retire. However, I’m ageing out already, so there’s always that thought looming over your head that says “Can we keep going like this? Is this going to be my last trip?”
For example, before COVID-19 hit, we were going overseas, running guided tours and coming back with a credit card debt and with no money in the bank. And of course, when COVID-19 hit, we came back 2 weeks before the borders shut and we had lost all our jobs. They said, “Sorry we are changing your job to a casual role.” So all the work I had, guiding and instructing at Pinnacle Sports, staff training at Urban Climb, private lessons etc, were all casual roles, or, on an “as needed basis”. And everyone was saying“Oh this is great, you can just go overseas and earn money” but, it wasn’t like that. In reality, when you work overseas, it just pays your airfare. You don’t “earn money”. I mean I love it but, it’s a common misconception everyone has that you are earning money where in reality, it feels more “Ooh is this the last trip?” because you are constantly worried about the money. So when Covid-19 happened I thought “This is it”. But we got lucky, and someone gave us a job. We ended up pick-packing for Coles. I have never felt so lucky to have a job. I was 50y/o at the time and that role usually hires big Islanders who are lifting heavy 20kg boxes above their heads. So, me doing these tasks at my age I was thinking “I’m surely going to die doing this”. But, thank God I didn’t have to do this for very long.
So, to answer the questions, yes, you have this amazing life where you’re doing what you want but you are also constantly living in the fear that you’re going to end up homeless at some point. So with that flexibility and freedom, you are compromising long-term security in your life. I think, when you’re 20y/o you don’t have anything to lose, yet, because you have your whole life ahead of you but when you are my age, you are constantly worried about ageing-out and not being able to work. So I’m now looking into health and fitness for ageing because don’t want to ever stop climbing. I believe the record at the moment is someone still climbing at the age of 99y/o, leading 6a’s at their age. Their name was Marcel Remy a Swiss climber.
How would you describe your current head game? Could you share a piece of advice you found helpful with climbing mindset / pyschology?
My head game is up and down like a roller coaster. Mostly, It’s down when I’m home and it’s really good while I’m away. But, usually, my head game is very bad when I’m placing gear and Scott (my husband) can attest to that. I have what I refer to as “Sending Tourettes”. I start swearing like a trooper. I come up with streams of words, I can’t even call them sentences because they make no sense and I don’t know where they come from. However, when my head game is good, I’m silent. So you can tell where my head game is at when you hear me having my “Sending Tourettes” or whether I’m silent. When I’m silent I still have some rational fear but it doesn’t take over me. But at the start of every trip, I’m always afraid to fall. So I try and get a few falls in at the start of the trip to get my confidence back or when I get my contact strength back. I have Thoracic outlet syndrome, which makes my hands go numb while climbing, causing me to lose my grip strength. I’ve been working towards fixing this so I can get to the age of 99 and still be able to climb. So throughout the trip I’m getting stronger and stronger and by the end of it I’m on fire. I come back home thinking “Yeah, I’m going to climb hard”. But I keep forgetting that I’m coming back to 40C heat and 100% humidity. I go from being in winter conditions to the heat of Queensland and instantly almost die from heatstroke. I don’t climb for a month and lose all the progress I’ve made with my strength during my trip. It’s a vicious cycle. So my mental strength is relative to my contact strength. If my contact strength goes my mental strength goes because I can’t trust that I can hold on. So I play a mental game with myself on the wall. I keep telling myself to shut up because if no one hears me they won’t be able to tell that I’m freaking out. So my advice would be to take more falls, get your mind and body used to the sensation and make it feel normal.
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