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UNDERGROUND CHUCK
  EnlargeLaid back, with his mind on his slopers and his slopers on his mind. Fryberger bouldering in Catavina, Baja Norte, Mexico. Photo by Andrew Burr / AndrewBurr.com
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Filmmaker, DJ and Highballin' Hardman Chuck Fryberger Sounds Off on the Industry, Making a Living and all that Bullshit
It’s early 2008, and I’m driving down a dusty dirt road in The Middle of Nowhere, Mexico. Deathly ill from some variant of Montezuma’s Revenge, I round a bend to find Chuck Fryberger, aka Underground Chuck, and his crew of climbers pulled over on the side of the road — un policía has tagged them for “speeding” in the middle of the Sonoran desert. Double bummer, the officer is giving them shit for the open cervezas they have in the car. Poor Chuck is enveloped in a fullon shake down.
Scraping together a few hundred bucks, Chuck and friends manage to extract themselves from the situation, calm and cool — a prime example of one of Chuck’s defining traits: he’s a master when it comes to saving face. He has a way with words and an honest, genuine personality — things I first learned while hanging with Chuck in Hueco Tanks, Texas, four years before the Mexico incident.
Born and raised in Golden, Colorado, Chuck has spent his entire 27-year life in the home of Coors beer (“I love the stuff,” says Chuck. “It flows through me like blood”). From spinning drum-n-base/electronic records as Underground Chuck, to making climbing movies, commercial film and video projects, and flicks from surveillance videos, one thing has remained consistent: his drive to climb tall, steep, new lines on boulders worldwide.
Climbing hard and filming at a professional level are each rare gifts. To maintain them both is hard. Relying on them for your primary income while staying true to yourself is even harder. While the future of the industry is uncertain, Chuck is a refreshing constant. I know that if I ever want an honest, no-bullshit answer, full of heart and spine, I can just ask Chuck.
‘Fryberger’ . . .
what are your roots? German and Eastern European.
Current occupation?
I work as a freelance cinematographer, hacking out a living by shooting movies, TV spots, and advertisements for others. I shoot climbing when I don’t have advertising work. At first, going out and filming was a rest-day activity, but as I’ve grown to love filming more and more, I have a hard time deciding whether to spend the day filming or climbing.
Schooling?
I have a music technology degree from the University of Colorado at Denver.
When did you graduate? What’s that saying you have
about surveillance video?
I graduated in December 2006, summa cum laude. We had a saying in the Music Tech department — ‘Audio without video is radio; video without audio is a surveillance system.’
Sponsors?
I climb for Scarpa, Black Diamond, Cloudveil, and Kaenon Polarized. I test camera bags for Mountainsmith.
When/how did you start
climbing?
As a kid, I was always into exploring. I spent a lot of time scrambling and climbing trees and small rocks. I didn’t take the sport seriously until I was about 14 or 15. At that point, I gave up everything else in the way of athletics to focus on climbing. My early partner, Brent Luchsinger, and I were mostly into trad climbing and mountaineering, but the last 10 years or so has been all about the boulders.
Your first pair of climbing shoes were?
My bare feet.
What about the rubberized variety?
Scarpa Dominators.
When/how did you start filming?
Shortly after I started climbing, my friend Aaron Prouty started a magazine called La Merde, a local mag
we put out for free. He also did some video stuff, and I started out by
climbing in his videos and helping him with the soundtracks. I used to
DJ and produce my own music, so I was psyched to help out.
Where was La Merde distributed?
Was it photocopied at Kinko’s or something? It was basically a Kinko’s kind of thing, at least at first. We distributed it through gyms and shops in Colorado. It focused on bouldering and sport climbing. One of the first issues, circa 1998, had a big interview with Tommy Caldwell about his then-recent trip to South Africa. Funny how little things change.
 EnlargeChuck filming the 11th, and crux pitch of Logical Progression (VI 5.13) on El Gigante, Basaseachic National Park, Mexico. Photo by Mike Brumbaugh
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Any heroes?
I look up to quite a few people. Fred Nicole is a ‘heroic’ figure in my mind, and old people too, like John Sherman. I just saw John last weekend. He still lives the life — cruising in a van, hanging out with his dog, drinking beer, developing boulders, and having fun.
What inspires you?
I love the idea of being able to climb a piece of rock that looks impossible. . . . Then you can look at what you just climbed and feel really proud of something. Unless your FA is in Moe’s Valley, in which case, famous climbers will re-climb it, up-grade it, and re-name it. True Story.
So did you sandbag the thing, or are famous people just lame?
Famous people are lame.
Life goals?
Continuous improvement. I always want to be getting better.
Favorite place to climb?
Anywhere with media coverage.
Seriously? It was like pulling teeth to get you to do this interview . . .
I can be pretty happy just about anywhere with good stone. I can get into the setting, the camaraderie, and the enthusiasm of my friends. I’m not hell-bent on milking points for my 8a.nu scorecard, so I’m usually pretty chilled out when I’m out bouldering. I love the spots everyone loves: Hueco, Fontainebleau, etc. But I can also have great days at Vedauwoo or the Black Hills, climbing on crystally granite.
When we first met, in Hueco, I was super psyched to snap some pix.
But when I asked you to climb a problem, cause it had cool light or
something, you said, ‘I don’t really want to climb that thing, but if
you want to pay me a day rate, then I’ll climb whatever you want.’ That was a major learning experience for me. When was the last
time you charged someone a day rate?
I billed a company for over $20,000 of day-rated work last year, to promote a cologne. There are gigs out there, even for climbers like me, who aren’t the best in the world. It’s a matter of how aggressively you want to whore yourself out and blemish your good name for the sake of money.
You travel around the world to climb on silly boulders. Why?
Sir, I reckon you could get punched in the face for making a statement like that around these parts.
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