Welcome to Sentivia

Okay, let me break down who I am based on what I've just told you all. I’m essentially a climber, and not just any climber; I’m a free soloist. That means I climb big walls, sometimes thousands of feet tall, completely alone and without any ropes or safety gear. It's a style that's pushed me to the edge, both physically and mentally.

My journey started when I was about 10 years old, hitting the climbing gyms. For over 20 years, climbing has been my life's center. I progressed from indoor gyms to outdoor walls and slowly started free soloing. I’ve built my comfort and skills over time, tackling increasingly bigger and more challenging walls. I am driven by the desire to push my limits and find my best performance when my life is on the line. This has been very intentional for me, I have never wanted to solely rely on luck.

I’ve drawn inspiration from others who have free soloed before me, but by 2008, I had already repeated many of their climbs in Yosemite and was looking for new territory. That led me to my first major free solo— Half Dome. I didn't have the right preparation or understanding to make it a perfect experience. I was essentially just trying to get through it. I wanted an adventure, but it ended up making me feel unsatisfied. I knew that to be a great climber I couldn’t rely on luck alone. The experience left me with a feeling that I needed to "do better". I took a break from free soloing to think through my approach, always with the goal of tackling El Capitan someday.

El Cap is, to me, the ultimate challenge and has been in the back of my mind for a long time. It's a wall of such massive scale, and I spent seven years hesitating, but eventually, I knew I wanted it as a way to find and experience what true mastery felt like. I didn't want another experience of just "getting away with it" or barely succeeding. To make sure that wouldn't happen, I meticulously prepared myself over multiple years. I would climb the routes multiple times using a rope first and spend time memorizing the moves and finding sequences that I could repeat flawlessly.

I worked on building a mental framework that would help me succeed. Free soloing is as much a mental game as a physical one. I visualized every single aspect of the climb, from the holds to my body's movements, like it was a dance. I spent a year doing stretching routines to ensure that I had the flexibility to make every move. This wasn't just about remembering moves; it was also about eliminating doubt. I had to consider all possible problems before I was on the wall. I made sure the experience felt as natural as I had imagined it.

I didn’t just focus on climbing skills; I focused on preparation. For instance, I spent time cleaning loose rocks from a difficult section of the wall because I knew I wanted everything to be perfect. This was all about reducing risks that might come up on the day of my free solo.

Finally, in 2017 I was ready to solo El Cap. On the day, everything flowed smoothly, and my months of visualization and practice paid off. Even the sections that gave me trouble in the past, I was able to handle without hesitation. I moved past the most difficult moves with ease. Climbing El Cap was the best day of my life.

So, in short, I'm a climber who doesn’t shy away from fear. I study it, manage it, and learn how to use it in my favor. I’m someone who’s driven by mastery, and this process takes years of discipline, practice, and preparation. That’s who I am.