The Affliction Heidi Wirtz

When are you going to get your shit together?” my father pleas for the hundredth time. I've heard this question echoing within my own head on way too many occasions as well. “If only I could,” I think to myself. I seem to be stuck with this heinous problem. It’s not an addiction, for in such cases there is usually a means of quitting. Ever since I stepped into the arms of this “climbing bug” there has been no turning back, no escaping its mighty grip. A grip that forever seems to be growing tighter, wrapping around my very soul, squeezing out any ideas of possibly surfacing up into the “normal societal world.”

I’ve tried to place blame on my buddies who, not knowing the consequence, turned me on to this crazy practice of climbing up rocks. Why, though, are they all settled down now with homes (other than their vehicles), oblivious to this bug’s presence? Is it like the flu? About the time you notice that you’ve passed it on to someone else, you are rid of it? This doesn’t seem to be working for me, since teaching people to climb is my job and I am not rid of it yet.

Perhaps it’s not just the climbing that so bedazzles me, but rather the dance up the rock, and the elation of once again figuring out another puzzle that nature has laid before me. Maybe it’s the adventure that will always be there as soon as I step out the door with my climbing pack on my back. Or it could be my partners that cheer me on, laughing both with and at me? There is always present that sense of community and my huge family on the road. But still I ask myself, “There must be more?”

I find myself sitting in front of the computer searching for that “real job,” but again and again I end up on the “cheap flights” web sites looking for tickets for another climbing adventure. My not-so-brilliant ideas of fleeing from this overwhelming problem have always gotten crushed back down. So, I find myself unable to figure it out, wandering off again, back to where I feel at home, up on the rock. What a great life! Maybe someday I will be a “normal” member of society? But I don’t think I will ever be free of the affliction.

Heidi Wirtz

It’s official, via her pursuit of climbing, Heidi Wirtz has had more jobs than anyone in the world. She’s tried her hand as a baker, bartender, roofer, rock mason, landscaper, guide, crab technician and as a “speed climber” at Sea World…and the list goes on. Then again, this is a girl who spent two winters (yes TWO winters) living out of a tent in Crested Butte, hiking 45 minutes through the snow nightly… ah, addiction at its best. She currently resides in CO (mostly in her truck) where she’s planning her next adventure and next “career” move.