About Me |
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I'm Andy. I was born and raised in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado and moved to Fort Collins in the mid-90's for school. I liked it so much I've been here ever since.
I started consistently venturing into the hills in 2001. At first it was mostly casual backpacking and a little fishing.
Gradually I began to be attracted to the peaks and in 2002 I climbed Longs Peak with some friends from school. Though I'd been up Longs twice before, this time I really appreciated the experience. Later that summer I bagged my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fourteeners in Bierstadt, Torreys, and Grays. I was hooked.
From there it's been a slow, steady progression of aquiring skills, experience, and gear to tackle more and more interesting routes and peaks. In 2004 I climbed my first snow route and my first 4th class route. In 2005 I lead my first rock pitches. In 2006 I climbed my first ice. In 2008 I lead my first water ice pitches.
In 2009 my wife and I had our second son. Adjusting to two children was a little more difficult than I anticipated and in the summer of 2009 I took a sabbatical from climbing to try some distance running (it being easier to find an hour here, or 4 hours there, to go for a quick run rather than the 12+ hours it requires to do anything significant in the hills). I finished my first marathon in the fall of 2009 and my first ultra marathon in 2010.
I lack any real natural talent or any significant drive or ambition - my main goal is just to put myself in the most spectacular settings possible. At the momement my life's ambition is to be able to comfortably lead 5.8 trad and maybe WI4. I've still got a ways to go but I'm getting there.
If you would like to contact me use this form to send me an email. I do my best to reply to messages and am happy to offer opinions, beta, and advice (as poor as they may be) on any of the climbs I've done or areas I've visited. I'd also be happy to sell my photos, videos, or trip reports/articles to anybody who is interested.
I'm also out there on the web as "Andy" on summitpost.org, 14ers.com, totalclimbing.com, and rmnpforums.com. I'm "Andy Leach" on mountainproject.com and Climber.org. I'm "aaleach" on youtube.com.
