{"id":41927,"date":"2018-12-20T08:07:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-20T16:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=41927"},"modified":"2020-05-22T12:58:11","modified_gmt":"2020-05-22T19:58:11","slug":"climbing-justin-salas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/climb\/climbing-justin-salas","title":{"rendered":"How Justin Salas is Leading the Adaptive Climbing Scene"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last September, when Justin Salas arrived in Innsbruck, Austria, to compete in the International Federation of Sport Climbing World Championships, he knew there were mountains all around. He just couldn\u2019t see them, at least not directly. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI can see them in my peripheral vision,\u201d said Salas. \u201cI do this thing, where I look and I scan around, and it\u2019s almost like they\u2019re there. But they\u2019re not. I understand that the mountain range is all around me. But I can\u2019t focus on them. It\u2019s, like, they\u2019re sneaky. They\u2019re in the background.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Salas is blind. When he was 14 years old, he lost nearly all of his central vision in six or seven months. Doctors diagnosed him with optic neuropathy of unknown origin. Essentially, Salas says his optic nerves were dying. He describes the way he sees as \u201creverse tunnel vision,\u201d with a dead spot in the center of his visual field. So all he can see is what lies on the fringe. When he looks toward the moon in the night sky, he says he can see a glow, but not the moon itself. \u201cEven in the brightest of full moons,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n

But, as Salas proves, you don\u2019t need to see to climb. <\/span><\/p>\n

The 25-year-old from Tulsa, Oklahoma, took first place in\u00a0<\/span>paraclimbing at the IFSC World Championships in Innsbruck this year,<\/span><\/a> which is the world\u2019s most elite sport climbing competition. Last year, he won a silver medal at the International Federation of Sport Climbing Paraclimbing World Cup in Edinburgh, Scotland. He has two gold medal wins at the USA Climbing Adaptive National Championship. And that\u2019s just the part of his\u00a0<\/span>resume<\/span><\/a> that\u2019s indoors on artificial terrain. In March 2018, Salas became the first adaptive rock climber to send a V11 boulder problem outdoors. <\/span><\/p>\n

At Innsbruck, Salas was the last athlete to climb in the finals for the B2 category of visual impairment, which fits under the broader umbrella of\u00a0<\/span>paraclimbing<\/span><\/a>. (Paraclimbing is broken into different\u00a0<\/span>categories<\/span><\/a>, including arm and leg amputation and visual impairment.) The crowd cheered when he walked into the arena and to the ropes, but as soon as he began to climb, the arena fell silent, which is part of the rules of the competition. <\/span><\/p>\n

A longtime friend named Matt Frederick stood at the bottom of the route, wearing a headset so he could talk to Salas. Frederick is Salas\u2019 sight guide. He can tell him where the holds are, using cues relative to Salas\u2019 body position: A foot hold at his mid-shin bone, or a hand hold in the two o\u2019clock position. <\/span><\/p>\n

At Innsbruck, Salas\u2019 long, strong limbs moved quickly and steadily up the first part of the route. He paused only to chalk up.<\/span>\u00a0The cameras<\/span><\/a> caught a flash of a tattoo on his right arm that says, \u201cWalk by faith, not by sight.\u201d When he got to the steeper, overhanging section, he placed his hands and feet confidently, but there were one or two times when, for a split second, his hand appeared as if it were searching for a hold. Then, he\u2019d find what he was looking for and shoot upward. The higher he climbed, the more demanding and arm-pumping the moves became. <\/span><\/p>\n

He breezed past the points where the other competitors had faltered and fallen, not knowing that he had moved into first place. As he reached the crux\u2014an overhanging roof\u2014he shook out his arms. His last move was powerful\u2014a burst of energy to grab a hold just above the roof that tore his feet off the wall. He never flailed\u2014his core strength kept his legs in control. But he couldn\u2019t find the foot hold to bring his toes back to the wall. His hands let go, signaling the end of his climb, and the crowd erupted into cheers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Justin

Justin Salas tops out on a boulder problem called La Baleine. (Photo Credit: Justin Salas)<\/p><\/div>\n

In Tulsa, Salas grew up next to an airport. \u201cMy dream was to be a fighter pilot,\u201d he says. \u201cI would get to see the F16s take off at two\u2014that was when they took off for the afternoon flights.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As a kid, Salas was active and athletic. He rode a BMX bike around the neighborhood and played soccer. At first, his loss of vision was gradual, and his brain was working overtime to hide it. For example, Salas would run his fingers over the plastic lid of a soda drink to find the hole to put his straw in it\u2014which he says was a subconscious adjustment for not being able to see the hole.\u201cThere were all these little things,\u201d says Salas. <\/span><\/p>\n

On his usual bike route, Salas remembers a big sign for a furniture store. \u201cI saw it everyday,\u201d says Salas. Until one day, when Salas was riding his bike with his friend and looked up at the sign and couldn\u2019t read it anymore. <\/span><\/p>\n

Then came the doctors\u2019 appointments, and the MRIs, and the news that his optic nerves were dying. <\/span><\/p>\n

Salas was planning to get his driver\u2019s permit the following year. His parents had bought a car for him and his older brother to share. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, things changed,\u201d he says. He couldn\u2019t do the tricks he used to on his BMX bike because he couldn\u2019t see where to stand on the bike. Even though he could see people\u2019s feet in his peripheral vision, he couldn\u2019t play soccer because as soon as the ball was kicked into the air, it would disappear. <\/span><\/p>\n

Mostly, though, Salas adapted. \u201cI was still expected to do school and do my chores.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Justin

Justin Salas won the IFSC World Championships for Paraclimbing this fall. He’s also sending the hardest boulder problems outdoors of any visually impaired climber. (Photo Credit: Justin Salas)<\/p><\/div>\n

About seven years ago, a friend convinced Salas to go climbing at an indoor gym in Tulsa. He went twice. The friend told him where to place his arms and legs and taught him the basic movements of climbing\u2014how to not get so gripped on the wall, how to hang his arms. <\/span><\/p>\n

At that time, his family couldn\u2019t afford a climbing gym membership. His father, a lab technician, and his mom, a web developer, were raising five children. They lived in a small house. Before he lost his sight, Salas ran a lawn-care business. It wasn\u2019t until 2015, when he was on Social Security income for having a disability and had rekindled his love for the outdoors through backpacking and camping trips, that he dedicated himself to climbing. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI found out that, once I memorized a boulder problem, I could climb it by muscle memory,\u201d says Salas. Sometimes, he can find the holds in his peripheral vision, and will snap to them. <\/span><\/p>\n

He climbed six days a week, top-roping and bouldering in the gym. If he wasn\u2019t climbing, he was lifting weights and training. He worked at the gym, which moved to a new 20,000-square-foot facility, and was setting routes. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNot only did I fall in love with climbing because I love the movement and the lifestyle and everything about climbing,\u201d says Salas. \u201cI found that I could make a living at it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In just two years, Salas became so adept at climbing that he decided to enter his first competition: the <\/span>Bouldering Adaptive Nationals on February 5, 2017, at The Front Climbing Club in Utah. He took second place in the combined category format. (Ronnie Dickson, an amputee, took first place.)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI would climb until my hands were bleeding,\u201d he says. \u201cI haven\u2019t found any aspect of climbing where vision is a requirement. Of course, it can make things easier. I\u2019m not the best flash or on-site climber\u2026 But I\u2019ve always found my own way of doing things. If a move is dynamic and visually intense, most often, I can find a way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Salas is also climbing outdoors, sending boulder problems that are far beyond the gym doors. <\/span>Worm Turns<\/span> is a 15-foot V11 boulder problem in Joe\u2019s Valley, Utah, defined by a long tufa ridge that snakes up to the roof. Salas says when he first attempted to climb it in 2016, \u00a0he thought it was the \u201ccoolest thing in the world.\u201d But he couldn\u2019t do the crux move\u2014the part where you \u201cturn the worm\u201d on the boulder. Fast forward to spring break 2018, and Salas sent the problem on his first day back in Utah. The ascent made him the first blind, adaptive climber to send the grade, wrote\u00a0<\/span>Rock and Ice<\/span><\/a> magazine. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking ahead to 2019, Salas is climbing professionally for Petzl and Evolv. He\u2019s a sponsored athlete for Adidas. He\u2019s also a world champion.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say climbing literally saved my life,\u201d says Salas. \u201cI just want to continue to push the limits of what\u2019s possible.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last September, when Justin Salas arrived in Innsbruck, Austria, to compete in the International Federation of Sport Climbing World Championships, he knew there were mountains all around. He just couldn\u2019t see them, at least not directly. \u201cI can see them in my peripheral vision,\u201d said Salas. \u201cI do this thing, where I look and I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":42006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1720,734,1721,727],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-41927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climb","tag-adaptive-climbing","tag-climbing","tag-justin-salas","tag-latest-posts"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/climb\/climbing-justin-salas","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"How Justin Salas is Leading the Adaptive Climbing Scene","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/climb\/climbing-justin-salas","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/climb\/climbing-justin-salas"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/12\/1Y1A4573.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/12\/1Y1A4573.jpg?fit=3000%2C2000"},"articleSection":"Climb","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Flandreau"}],"creator":["Michelle Flandreau"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["adaptive climbing","climbing","justin salas","latest posts"],"dateCreated":"2018-12-20T16:07:00Z","datePublished":"2018-12-20T16:07:00Z","dateModified":"2020-05-22T19:58:11Z"},"rendered":"