Name: Garrett Koeppicus.

Age: 22.

Home: Brooklyn, NY.

Sponsors: Dabtronics.

In it: seven years.

The Local: Central Park and The Gunks.

Memorable Ticks: Venus In Scorpio (V11), Karajo (V11), Koma’s Roof  (V10), Diesel (V10), Slingblade (V9), Giant Steps (V9).

Dream Trip: A year of travel — hitting up both remote and famous areas on six continents.

The Five Year Goal: Travel outside of the U.S., attend grad school, and continue being happy.

The Insider:
Garrett studied animation at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He possesses an impressive imagination that fuels his artistic work and pervades his life. Flexing his creativity on the rock, he has a knack for unlocking enigmatic boulder problems and values the aesthetics of a line. Befitting his creative personality, Garrett excels at FAs and the development of new areas.

During the spring in the Adirondacks, the black flies often become maddening. On one such infested Tuesday, Garrett and I skipped our classes and ventured north for some fresh rock. We soon came across a massive boulder (and some smaller warm ups) just begging to be brushed FAed. Rejuvenated from a dip in Nine Corners Lake to escape the bugs, we did a few nice new climbs that day, with a number more to follow in the coming weeks. Garrett did not hide these newly found climbs in secrecy; he enjoys seeing new people climbing in areas he’s discovered. Why, he’s even so nice, he may invite you his family’s home, where a party and barbeque will likely commence, after a day of touring some of the less frequented boulders of the northeast.

Always willing to give directions to new stone, owning up to his dabs, and cleaning up his trash, Garrett exhibits the respect for climbing, climbers, and the environment that strong communities are founded on.

-Jonathan Felch