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July, 2006
Rock climber profile: Geoff Knox
By Tanya Mitchell
A resident of Searsport, ME, Geoff spends much of his spare time climbing on the boulders and rock cliffs near Megunticook Lake in Camden. When he's not climbing or hiking, he works mad-ass hours as a boat builder in Rockland.
NU: So, tell the readers a little about yourself. Did you grow up in Maine?
Geoff: Yup, I've lived in Searsport my whole life, except for a few times that I ventured out to live a few other places.
NU: Where'd you go?
Geoff: Well, I lived in Daytona [Fla.] for a few months, and then I lived in the Army for a couple of years.
NU: Did you have the chance to visit or climb in any areas of the world that you found particularly interesting?
Geoff: I went to Korea and Kentucky, but I didn't really get a chance to do any climbing in either of those places. I did some ropes courses while I was in the Army, but there was not a whole lot of climbing involved in that… It was an Air Assault course where we learned how to repel out of a helicopter.
NU: Is that how you initially developed an interest in climbing?
Geoff: Yeah, and then at the Air Assault course I took in Ft. Campbell we got more into the ropes and the knots - and the adrenalin. I have to say that the Army's idea of repelling isn't exactly the safest way of doing it. You're repelling out of a helicopter that's 90 feet off the ground, and in the Air Assault course the idea is to get to the ground as quickly as possible without hurting yourself. I guess that's good if you're getting shot at, but it's not the best approach to take for rock climbing.
NU: So then you got more into the climbing after you got out of the Army?
Geoff: Yeah, I mostly started climbing after I started buying the rope, being more into repelling than anything else… There are some places you just can't get to without doing some climbing. Then comes the time to get the cams and the stoppers… You start investing. I figure you can't really do adventure sports without thinking about the safety aspect, at least, if you intend to continue to do it for a long time.
NU: Do you have to buy a special type of rope that is specifically made for climbing?
Geoff: Yes, they have different elongation ratings. Say you have a 100-meter length of rope, and it has en elongation rating of six percent, that means it'll stretch about six meters in the event that the climber falls. There are also two different types of rope; there's static, which means that it doesn't stretch. That's the kind of rope I'd use for an anchor. Then there's dynamic, which is the type that stretches.
NU: Have you ever taken part in other outdoor programs related to climbing?
Geoff: Yup, I went out on a trip with N.O.L.S. [National Outdoor Leadership Schools], that was in '97. It was sometime around the end of July, beginning of August because I remember I had my birthday out there and it snowed - or hailed. That was in Wyoming, in the Wind River Range. The headquarters that we left from was in Lander, Wyoming.
NU: How long were you out there for?
Geoff: It was 21 days altogether, and we spent 18 days out there.
NU: What would you say were the most important skills you gained while living in the Western American mountains with a group like that?
Geoff: I'd say that where everybody came from different walks of life, in the respect that some had never been camping and/or climbing. They may have gone out with their friends bouldering [any small climbs that do not require ropes], but that was about it. I found, though, that some of the people with the least experience were able to actually be very productive members of the experience by using the skills they did have. Someone who may not be able to tie the best knots or who wasn't the strongest climber was able to use a one-burner stove like a chef. It was a good team-building experience for me to see that.
NU: Tell us about the worst digger you've ever taken while climbing.
Geoff: Well, I took a fall one time while I was climbing with a guy in Camden. I didn't really fall that far, maybe about four or five feet at the most. The thing was, I was climbing over this bulge, where the rock jutted out and I had to try and climb up and over it. The guy on belay, he was attached to one end of the rope and he was feeding the rope through as I climbed up (the other end was obviously tied to me). About the time I got to the top of the bulge, things went wrong. I was pretty much extended as far as I could reach and I started to figure out fairly quickly that there was no handhold for me to grab onto. When I gave up on finding that handhold, I just held on as long as I could until I had to let go. I ended up pinching my hand between the rope and the rock I was holding, all while dangling there and trying to keep from hitting the rock while I was swinging around. I ended up gashing my thumb pretty good. I think the worst part about that was I knew that I had hurt my thumb pretty bad, but I couldn't tell how bad it was because I was kind of stuck there for a bit, you know?
NU: Ouch, bummer, man. Hey, if you could climb anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
Geoff: Hueco Tanks in Texas, because they have the craziest looking rocks I've ever seen. It's kind of like this Martian-looking landscape with these pocketed rocks. It's a bouldering retreat; when it gets cold up north a lot of climbers go down south, like to Arizona or Texas.
NU: Where's the best place you've climbed in Maine?
Geoff: Acadia National Park, during a Maine Bound trip through the University of Maine in '94. That was after I got out of the Army and decided I kind of liked climbing rocks and wanted to get a little taste of it before I really got into it.
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