Q & A with author Russ Clune
Russ Clune, author of The Lifer: Rock Climbing Adventures in the Gunks and Beyond, shares insight into his writing process and adventuring history.
DAP: Can you tell us a brief synopsis of your book?
RUSS: The Lifer tells a story of the evolution of rock climbing from my experiences at my home cliff, the Shawangunks in New York, to rock climbing epicenters around the globe. I spent much of the late '70s into the mid ‘80s traveling and climbing with the best rock climbers of my generation, watching the old methods and traditions of rock climbing give way to a new paradigm, what would become known as “sport climbing”. The resulting popularity of climbing and the explosion in difficulty would eventually morph into Olympic events.
I take the reader on trips around the world during those tumultuous times with stories both hilarious and horrifying, bonding me with people who become life-long friends. Along the way, I tell the story of my own “forks in the road” and where rock climbing eventually led me into the climbing industry and into the birth of Black Diamond Equipment.
DAP: What was the inspiration/motivation for writing your book?
RUSS: I’d been told by lots of friends I need to write a book about my climbing life. After reading William Finnegan’s Barbarian Days, I realized his story of his surfing life had so many parallels to mine in climbing. Finnegan traveled the world in search of pristine waves, sometimes the earliest surfer to ever ride them. I had much the same experience in climbing and decided it was time to put pen to paper.
DAP: What is the key takeaway you want people to have after reading your book?
RUSS: Life is amazing when you find a passion that drives you.
DAP: What inspires you?
RUSS: Going to new crags around the world, immersing myself in local climbing cultures and meeting like-minded souls, many of whom become new friends.
DAP: What does your writing/working space look like?
RUSS: It’s usually my kitchen counter in the warmer months, looking up at the cliffs of the Gunks. And when it’s winter, on the futon next to the wood stove to stay warm.
DAP: What are you learning/listening to/reading right now?
RUSS: I’m always trying to learn more on guitar, so listening to songs I want to practice. For reading, right now I’m reading David Quammen’s Natural Acts. The guy is just brilliant and so funny.
DAP: Are there more books in your future?
RUSS: I truly don’t know. In the process of writing The Lifer, I cut out enough stories to almost have a second book, but it would just be a rehash. Time will tell.
DAP: How do you select the books you want to read?
RUSS: Often by recommendations of friends. I tend toward memoirs, biographies, adventure travel and history. I’m not a huge fiction reader.
DAP: Is there a book that you’ve read multiple times? What is it, and why do you keep going back to it?
RUSS: I have certainly gone back to sections of books to re-read them, but the only time I can recall actually re-reading an entire book was on a long hike on the Appalachian Trail, with The Once and Future King, a book I’d been assigned to read in high school and enjoyed. I didn’t mind ripping out the pages as I went, in order to save weight.
DAP: Share one fun fact about yourself, something that your readers would never guess.
RUSS: Claude Harmon was my teaching pro golfer when I was a kid. (His son, Butch Harmon, would later be Tiger Wood’s coach).
RUSS CLUNE is a rock climber living in the Shawangunk Mountains of New York. His articles have been published in multiple journals, including Climbing, Rock & Ice, Mountain, Alpinist, Der Bergsteiger, Iwa To Yuki, The Patagonia Catalog, and Urban Climber. Clune has been climbing for over forty-five years and was one of America’s best rock climbers during his peak in the 1980s. He is also one of the world’s most well-traveled rock climbers. Clune was part of the employee group that created the leading climbing-gear company, Black Diamond Equipment, where he worked for thirty years. He remains an active climber and continues to travel the globe seeking new adventures.
Click here to order a copy of The Lifer: Rock Climbing Adventures in the Gunks and Beyond.