Audrey Gariepy

Age: 30, Years climbing: 10, Hometown: No fixed address yet!!, Favorite product: Solution

blog: http://audrey-gariepy.petzlteam.com/

Do you clip bolts, plug cams, stack pads, or crush ice?

Depends on the season! I like to play outside and since I'm from Canada it gives me a lot of time to ice and mixte climb during our long Winter! The rest of the year, I mostly clip bolts but I also like to plug cams!!

How long have you been an athlete with La Sportiva?

It started at Ouray Ice Fest in 2006.

What are some of your lifetime climbing goals?

Keep improving my level of ability in different types of climbing. I want to keep being passionate, explore as much as possible and climb with my good friends.

Do you have a claim to fame?

I got invited to The Festiglace du Québec in 2002 at my first year of ice climbing. It was a team competition in which we had to climb as many routes as possible during the weekend. I teamed up with Stephane Husson. We both had to lead all the route to make points...and I've never lead on ice before the event! Anyway, after two long days of climbing, Stephane and I won the comp!! This event really motivate me to push harder on ice.

Do you have any vices?

I looooove ice cream!! Oreo is my favorite!

What makes you tick as a climber and in the real world?

I've spent the past 7 Spring and Summer working in the forest of BC as a tree planter and a foreman. Planting is the hardest physical and mental challenge I've never done. It's a bit like climbing an alpine route that would last 3 months!! After every planting season I feel so strong and it seems like everything is possible.

What drives you to climb? The money? The groupies? The fame? What?

I don't know....it's just something that I need to do otherwise my body and my mind start to go crazy!! It's an addiction....it makes me feel good and live the present moment. I climb for myself and hopefully it will never be for money or to impress other people!!

What is your favorite movie?

I'm sooooo bad to remember my favorite movie!! It could change every week I think...it depends on what I've seen last! I just watched for a second time Million Dollar Baby and A Beautiful Mind....they both made me think a lot and I really enjoyed them.

Do you have any nicknames? Explain:

A few of my planting friends call me Princess Astair!! It a long story about a endless planting day in which we ran out of fuel and got help by this weird old bush man.

What’s the longest you’ve gone without sleep? Why?

42 hours. I went with Jon Walsh to try to open a new route on an amazing diedral on Mount Wilson (Canadian Rockies). The adventure took longer than expected and we ended up climbing all day and night. We didn't have any bivy gear so we just kept going thru the night. Unfortunatly, we backed up about 2/3 of the way. Jon went back a few days later with Raphael Slawinski (I was gone planting so I couldn't be part of it....dammit!!) They finished this amazing line...Dirty Love (M7, 12 pitch, 500m+).

If you had to be named after one of the 50 states, which would it be?

Utah. Good mixture of mountains and deserts...and it so close to Colorado!!!!

What did you have for lunch yesterday?

A wrap with tuna, coleslaw salad....mixed with loooots of ceasar salad dressing. My favorite outdoor lunch....try it with tea....always good!

If you could hook up a thought monitor to your head, would you see pictures, hear words or would music be playing?

A big mixte of everything! It seems like my brain is always going at 200 miles/hour. I dream, I analyse, I sing.....sometime all at once!

What really scares you about climbing?

I broke my ankle very bad in 2005. The big jug I was holding on broke and I took a 10 meters wiper and land on a slab. I'm sometime scared to break my ankle again or to break the other one. I now think twice before doing a move with a potentiel of bad landing.

If your life was made into a movie, what would it be called?

Keep on Smilin'!!

Where would you live if it could be anywhere in the world?

There's so many places that I like. In the past 7 years I traveled a lot and enjoyed the best seasons in different places. It's so hard for me to think of a single place where I could live all year around.

Have no food or have no gasoline?

Both suck!! But I could go longer without gasoline.

Do you wish you had sexier feet?

I love my feet!! One big scar on my right swallow angle and a shorter big toe on my left foot due to a frostbite! I think feet can say a lot on somebody....and it's totally true for me!!