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<p><img src="../../../../../work/columns/hedgecock/eclectic/img/www_subdomain/eclectic.gif" width="180" height="216" alt="Eclectic Avenues"><p>
<b>by Catherine Hedgecock</b>
</center>
<p>
<b>
<font size="+1">
<font size="+2">A R</font>OCKY
<font size="+2">C</font>LIMB<br>
TO THE
<font size="+2">T</font>OP
</font>
</b>
<br>
<p>
<p>Published May 12, 1997<br><p>
<a href="../../../../../www_subdomain/work/archive/hedgecock.html">Other Columns</a> by Catherine Hedgecock<p>
</td>
<td><font size="+1">
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<font size="+2">I</font>t's easy to feel like you're living on the edge. You can't buy that new
espresso maker until next paycheck. Perhaps you have to give a sales report without
PowerPoint. You plan your annual vacation — to a different Club Med. But
as you are packing, you read about Allison Levy, and suddenly everything you
do seems pretty safe.
<br> <br>
<font size="+2">L</font>evy rock climbs. Big, steep rocks where the biggest foothold is the size of an acorn, and not a terribly big acorn at that. Where you hang like a spider under
a table as you work your way over a protruding ledge. Where the only thing
between you and a 100 foot fall is a little piece of metal jammed into a
crack in the rock and a length of rope that somehow looks thinner than when
you started this climb. That's what Levy does for fun. And when she's not
climbing rocks, she's running her own business teaching, you guessed it, rock climbing.</font>
<p>
<font size="+1">L</font>evy runs Aspiring Heights in Berkeley, California. She teaches children and teens to climb in a youth climbing league, and sets up workshops with
world-renowned climbers. This summer she is holding her first outdoor camp
for 9- to 17-year-olds. "A month in the mountains, climbing, and biking,
and getting paid for it," she says. "I can handle that."
<p>
<font size="+1">I</font>t takes a lot of guts to work and play where one slip can mean a big fall. Levy, 31, admits it isn't always easy. She works long days, every day. She
doesn't like all that boring accounting stuff. But three things make it
all worthwhile: the outdoors, freedom, and kids.
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<font size="+2">It takes a lot of guts to work and play where one slip can mean a big fall.</font>
</td>
<td valign="TOP">
<font size="+1">L</font>evy grew up in New Jersey, swimming, hiking and loving the outdoors. A big talker with endless energy, she majored in advertising and marketing at
the University of Rochester in New York and later the University of
Washington in Seattle. After graduation, she moved to Berkeley and took up
rock climbing at the suggestion of a friend. Immediately she was hooked.
"I like it because, especially when I'm leading, I'm in the moment. I'm not
thinking about getting home before 10:00 to do the laundry. I'm on the rock
thinking, 'Where is my next move?' I feel free."
<p>
<font size="+1">W</font>hen she began rock climbing in 1990, indoor climbing gyms were beginning to take off. She worked for one of the pioneers, City Rock in Emeryville, Calif.,
and did a stint in a advertising agency. Both jobs convinced her she wanted
the freedom to set her own hours, make her own decisions, and have a good
time. She saw the burgeoning indoor climbing craze as a place to start. In
1990, there were three climbing gyms in the United States; now there are
close to 300.
<p>
<font size="+1">S</font>he convinced several gyms to host a youth climbing league that she
envisioned for the winter months. During her stint at City Rock, Levy saw
kids loving to climb but not sticking with it because of homework, parents'
schedules, and distractions. She was convinced a 10-week "Little League of
climbing" would bring families in for a schedule of practices and
competitions.
<p>
<font size="+1">I</font>n her first year, 50 youths participated, ages 7 to 17.
Last year, the second season, 95 climbed at six indoor gyms in the Berkeley
area. The gyms have rugged "rock" walls with realistic crags and bumps. The
young climbers, tied into safety lines, race each other up the walls. They
also compete in "bouldering," short climbs without safety ropes. Kids are
the best clients her business could have, Levy says. "They are
enthusiastic, and they speak their minds." She also learns from them.
"This year I saw a lot of teamwork. That's really refreshing because
climbing is such an individual sport."
</td></tr>
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<font size="+2">You have to be strong, but Levy maintains it's more important to be flexible and persistent — in climbing and in business.</font>
</td>
<td valign="TOP">
<font size="+1">L</font>evy has found the skills of rock climbing translate into running Aspiring Heights. You have to be strong, but big muscles tire out. Levy, 5-foot-2
and 110 pounds, maintains it's more important to be flexible and
persistent — in climbing and in business. "Dancers and gymnasts make the
best climbers," she says. "They have the balance and grace, they are in
tune with their bodies, they have the mental focus."
<p>
<font size="+1">N</font>ow Levy is preparing for her new venture into a summer camp. She'll hold four one-week sessions for kids to climb outdoors, on real rocks, many for
the first time. Between climbs, they'll mountain bike along wooded paths near Lake Tahoe in California's pristine Sierra mountain range.
<p>
<font size="+1">W</font>hile the work is intense and exciting, sometimes even Levy needs a day off. She took a short break in March for some R&R — rock climbing in the
Joshua Tree area of Southern California. Whether she is working or
playing, she's learned one thing: Never to look down. "I don't want to
know what's down there. You just have to do what needs to be done."
<p>
<hr>
<p>
Allison Levy can be reached at <a href="mailto:allison@aspiringheights.com">allison@aspiringheights.com</a> or (510)
558-0106. Her web site is www.aspiringheights.com.
<p>
<hr>
<p>
<p><a href="mailto:cathy@creativesports.com">Catherine Hedgecock</a> is a freelance writer and editor in Berkeley, California. She has written for USA Today, Knight Ridder newspapers, GNN, and other publications. She has won first place investigative reporting awards from California Newspaper Publishers Association, Gannett newspapers, and Best of the West. Ms. Hedgecock is currently writing a mystery novel.
<p><font size="-1">© 1997 Catherine Hedgecock, all rights reserved.
</font>
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