Rob Miller

Age: 40, Years climbing: 18, Hometown: Davenport, CA, Favorite product: Miura

blog: http://www.climb-strong.tumblr.com

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

Always looking for new new ways to free climb up very tall cliffs of Granite!

How long have you been an athlete with La Sportiva?

7 years

What are some of your lifetime climbing goals?

Tangibly, it's discovering and establishing high quality new free climbs in Yosemite that are in plain view to all. Abstractly, it would be to truly not measure myself to other climbers.

Do you have a claim to fame?

Two cover photos... both on Rock and Ice.

Do you have any vices?

Old Rasputin Imperial Stout from the North Coast Brewery isn't a vice. It's the half a shot of bourbon that makes it even better.

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

Whether it's life or climbing, I like walking on a path that is challenging. So when choices are difficult, unclear or the path is just downright scary, I have a scenario I run through my imagination. I fast forward to a time when I'm sitting on my porch and I'm telling stories to my grand kids and their friends. There's two benefits from this exercise. One is that I have to actually be physically sitting there to be telling the story (ie still alive). The second is that I want to tell an amazing story that is also 100% truth (and that helps to overcome my fears now).

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

Climbing has always been the place where all the noise of a busy life can't find me.

What is your favorite movie?

"Love, Actually"

Do you have any nicknames? Explain:

"Platinum" refers to how incredibly toe headed I am. I'm really easy to pick out... especially at night.

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

Fifty four hours. In my twenties, I thought holding down a night job might be a good idea for my climbing. I was wrong. At least, now I know.

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

Montana

What did you have for lunch yesterday?

One quart of whole milk and a hand full of roasted and salted macadamia nuts.

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

You would definitely hear a lot of words, but climbing helps ease the volume of those words.

What really scares you about climbing?

The magnitude of what I love to do on the Big Walls of Yosemite is extremely frightening. I don't even have to be in Yosemite to be overcome with fear. Recently, I was walking up to the cliff in the Virgin River Gorge. The wind was really intense, and I had an internal panic attack about some plans I have for the spring in Yosemite. I couldn't even tell you what it is that was so frightening; it's either how big my dreams are, or the amount of work it takes to free climb a route that big.

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

The Direct Line

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

Right here on the coast, just North of Santa Cruz, CA.

Have no food or have no gasoline?

I would rather be without gasoline.

Do you wish you had sexier feet?

Maybe a few years back. Not any longer. I've made my peace.