A FEW WORDS WITH WOMEN'S 2009 TRIPLE CROWN OVERALL WINNER, KASIA PIETRAS

I met up with Kasia Pietras, who won the 2009 Triple Crown Open Women’s overall title. The interview took place at Kasia’s workplace, the Tennessee Bouldering Authority (www.tbagym.com), a southeastern bouldering institution where several of the regions strongest rock rats train. Pietras grew up in Chicago and regularly drove seven hours to Kentucky, to sport climb in the Red River Gorge. Before the recorder began, she explained that she’s currently attending the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, but plans to start attending massage therapy school in the fall. 

Seems like you took to bouldering pretty quickly once you moved to Chattanooga from Chicago...

I started going to the Red my sophomore year. I went there all the time for three years of highschool and my freshman year of college every weekend. I spent three summers there in a row. When I moved to Chattanooga, the Red was four hours away, or I could go to LRC, which is 25 minutes away, or Rocktown which is 45 minutes away, or Horse Pens an hour and a half away...there’s all this bouldering that’s way closer than the Red, and I haven’t been back to the Red since I don’t even know... I rope climb around here though. I’ve climbed a lot at Little River Canyon, and Fosters and the Obed.

My mom tells me I should get back into ropes because I was so good at ropes, but it’s so much more time. If I get out of school at 2 p.m., and the sun sets at 5 p.m., I can go out an boulder for two and half hours. But if I go out and rope climb with somebody, I get one pitch in and I’d be done. It’s just a little bit more convenient, that’s all. 

You’ve been down here for three years, then?
Yeah, three. 

As soon as you got down here, did you start bouldering in these areas all the time?
I came down here, and I was by myself -- I didn’t really know people...then I started meeting more and more people from around here. I started going bouldering. 

With the Triple Crown, it seems like it’s mostly locals who are in the top slots, right?
I think it’s more accurate now than it was a few years ago. I know that back in the day, it was Paul Robinson and Matt Bosley, and no one really local at the time. For the girl’s category, Alex Johnson and Puccio showed up last year and dominated, and they showed up for a few [competitions] this year.