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UNEARTHED - #23 > JUNE/JULY 2008 - BRIAN ARNOLD
Interview and photo by Noah Kaufman
Years living: 30 Years climbing: 18 Hometown(s): Orem, Utah; Dayton, Ohio; Cincinnati, Ohio Favorite crag: Hueco for bouldering (“Though I’m getting pushed away, ‘cause of the regulations”); The Red River Gorge for routes. Talk about your recent season in Hueco: I’d never taken a trip that long... I’ve just being climbing inside the last few years, ‘cause it’s hard to get away from work and stuff. Outdoors it was the hardest I’ve climbed. What’s your favorite post climbing day meal? What’s your dream trip? How many grapes do you think you can fit in your mouth at once? THE INSIDER When I met Brian at a bouldering comp in Ohio, he was a big fish in a small pond, winning many of the local comps but never venturing far from his home, in Xenia. At the time, Brian hadn’t done a V10, but I’d never seen anyone as fierce about trying hard. Brian and I both grew up with brothers, so it was only natural that we’d develop a competitive relationship. We wrestled, climbed, and played chess. (We even tried to swap women briefly.) Then I convinced Brian and his amazing wife, Anganette, to come on a yearlong road-trip. Ang said it would only be okay only if Brian could earn $40,000 in four months. He did it. During that trip, Brian did his first V10, the uber-highball Golden Shower, in Bishop, and then went on to send 40 problems from V10 to V12 in two months. (My major breakthrough was beating Brian at chess — after 200 games.) Brian is the nicest guy I know. His honesty, integrity, and self-confidence are unmatched. He was once bet a dollar that he couldn’t do a one- arm, one-finger pinky pull up. He flashed it. [See the pinkie pull-up on the video, Try Harder, coming in 2009; tryhardclimbers.com] I guess what I am saying is that Brian Arnold is my hero. —Noah Kaufman UC Brian’s Hueco 2007 Top 25 Ticklist
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