The Five Year Goal: Spend A LOT less time writing code, and more time outside.
The Insider:
Lani Adamson is shy-the kind of shy that makes you think maybe you're stepping on her toes as you talk to her, yet she's too nice to say anything-but bring up climbing and witness a different animal. Much like a lion chillin' on the Savanah under that lone tree, you have no idea she's deadly...until it's too late.
Many photographers approach Lani, asking to shoot her climbing, but until recently she turned them all down. Perhaps it's her painful camera shyness, or maybe it's just a desire to keep the experience unadulterated.
At age 11, Lani fell off a cliff and broke her back in four places. Despite that, three years later she took up climbing. She's a natural athlete who excels at skateboarding, biking, and seemingly any other sport she tries. Lani pays the bills as a computer programmer developing software and web applications that make geeks weep. She's also one of the few females I know who repeatedly sets (and climbs) problems that thwart the local strongbads. It's good for them-keeps things in perspective.
Lani's style is ferocious and not limited to plastic. She lithely and dynamically ascends steep technical lines with a raw untrained contact strength that many only acquire by campusing for months. Her tick list includes proud LCC test pieces that far more strong climbers fall off than top out. There's absolutely nothing shy about the way Lani Adamson climbs stone. Head out to any of the Utah hot spots and you might catch her sending yet another hard line, but don't be put off if you have to say "Hi" first, especially if you have a camera bag nearby.
-Luke Cudney
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