Читать книгу Edge of the Map. The Mountain Life of Christine Boskoff онлайн

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Chris had been climbing a few years with some success, and she found the exhilaration of the sport addictive. In Appleton, she frequented a new climbing gym whenever she was home visiting her parents. The locals, unaccustomed to a climber of her caliber, gave her a wide berth. “When she came in, it was pretty much all business. She was totally on a mission,” remembered Paul Kuenn, who owned Vertical Stronghold, the Midwest’s first climbing gym north of Chicago. “People would generally let her do her thing, but they’d definitely stare. Every now and then I’d overhear someone saying, ‘Man alive, that woman has been on the wall for over two hours and she hasn’t put her feet down.’ She crossed from one end to the other.”

Kuenn had arranged the holds so Chris could travel 170 feet sideways by going around the bouldering area, changing directions, and coming back without stopping to break. “This is Wisconsin, so there weren’t exactly tons of people who knew who she was as her ascents became bolder,” he said. “But eventually she was in all the climbing magazines. It’s funny, she really didn’t care about any of that. She wasn’t into celebrity. She’d come to the gym and bring her mom to watch. The two of them together—decent, humble Midwesterners.”