Growing up in Flagstaff, Arizona and finding a connection with climbing at an early age, Zak Farmer soon became one of the strongest
boulderers in Flag. By his teens he was climbing double digit boulder problems all over the southwest and placing at top level bouldering competitions. After a crushing shoulder injury before his 18
th birthday while climbing at the bouldering mecca Ibex, Zak was forced to deal with the fact that he may never climb at a high level again (or climb at all!). Since then Zak has moved on, graduated high school and then college, moved up the ranks working at Vertical Relief Climbing Center (his current position is Head
Routesetter and Retail Manager) and, after much rehabilitation, found a meaningful albeit different place for climbing in his adult life.
I cornered Zak recently and asked him a few questions...
J: Why did you start climbing?
Z: I actually can't claim any credit on why I started climbing. Climbing was one of those things that was recommended by my mother. I had climbed outside with some programs at the Museum of Northern Arizona but those were just a couple of fun days and this was before the gym had even been built. Having been to the gym once or twice I had received a mailing advertisement about the junior team when it first started. Being the calm and open minded teen that I was I thought it sounded kind of lame, but I was "nudged" to do it anyway. I fell in love with it immediately.
J: What was your motivation for climbing when you were young?
Z: Once I got started climbing at Vertical Relief I imagined myself no other place. I had had a lot of trouble with team sports, especially with overzealous coaches who seemed to just be washed up out of shape people who couldn't do the sport themselves anyway. Climbing quickly seemed to be quite different from the sports I was used to. I feel that the independent nature of climbing is what kept drawing me in as you can choose the direction you wish to follow instead of being told what you have to do. I naturally excelled at climbing as soon as I started which is always nice to keep motivated. I am not sure being so good at such a young age helped at all with my ego, as I am sure a lot people who knew me as a young kid can attest (cough..Pete
Walka..cough) but I definitely think it kept me focused on climbing. Teens are fickle and can bounce around a lot but I stuck with climbing.
J: How did you injure your shoulder? Was it difficult to start climbing again?
Z: I was climbing at Ibex on a V10 there and I had done all the hard moves but put my shoulder into a weird position and I tore my
labrum and bicep tendon on my left shoulder. I lost complete use of the shoulder and had to go in for surgery where they placed I believe 7 anchors on the
labrum and had to piece the bicep tendon back together again. Things looked grim and for a little over a year and a half I was a roller coaster on my way to recovery. Some days I would feel great and some days were terrible and I don't think I really regained full functionality for a couple years. However, after recovering I found myself to be a much better climber, even placing better at competitions. Not being able to use my raw power for so long led me to seek alternate methods of achieving my goals and by adding new tricks I brought my climbing to a whole new level.
J: Is your motivation for climbing different now that you are older and have gone through some adversity with your climbing?
Z: Absolutely, climbing is a gift and it can be taken away so mercilessly and without reason. One day you are at the top of your game and with no warning it's gone. It leaves you with a sense that you really have no control of the outcome on the choices you make in life. You can let it destroy you or you can let it fuel you, there are people doing incredible things after having endured more than I can imagine...it's just a shoulder, at least I still have my arm. As far as my motivations changing I think it has been quite dramatic. As a young guy I was really focused on competing and being the best, at all costs, and in the end when I had to pay those costs, it wasn't worth it. Does that mean I don't enjoy competing? No. I still have that drive and I always will, it just means that I look at each experience I have with climbing much more intently now knowing that is a fleeting moment.
J: Where do you see climbing fitting into your future?
Z: I have for some time now tried to expand my vision of what climbing is to me. I was as pure a boulder as they come and it created a power that pushed me to the limits...but it was also limiting. I wasn't well rounded, I had no head for rope climbing and I thought trad climbing was a joke. I think it really left me incomplete as a climber. So recently I have been doing it all. Trad climbing more and focusing on sport climbing has once again given me the confidence in my abilities to succeed and refueled my drive to take those new skills back to the competition realm...but years have gone by and kids who weren't even climbing when I was at my peak are now cleaning house. It will be interesting to see where I stand.
