Welcome to our chat session with alpinist Kitty Calhoun, live from the Banff Mountain Film Festival. Calhoun is one of the US's leading Himalayan alpinists, specializing in technically difficult routes on the world's highest peaks. In 1987, she summitted Dhaulagiri and in 1990, she summitted Makalu, via its difficult West Pillar, on an expedition she led. Since then, she has traveled to remote, difficult peaks in Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan and the Himalaya.

Question
I am pleased that you climb alpine style, fast and light. I certainly put you in the ranks of great alpinists like Mark Twight, Scott Backes and Barry Blanchard. What do you have in store for the next year in terms of climbing alpine style and will you be climbing with any of the other three alpinists I mentioned?

Kitty Calhoun
I'm hoping to go to Alaska in the spring, and I'm not sure who my climbing partner is going to be yet. Thanks for putting me in that category, because those climbers are my friends and I think they're excellent climbers.

Question
Hi Kitty! I saw a slide show you did about two years ago for the Arizona Mtn Club. What have you been up to since then?

Kitty Calhoun
I can't remember if that was before or after my trip to Pakistan...but then I went to Australia for a fun in the sun climbing trip, and then I went to Canada last winter to do some ice climbing, then I went to Yosemite with a few other girls to do some other rock climbing...we also went this month to Hallucinogen in the Black Canyon.

Question
What has been your favorite expedition to date?

Kitty Calhoun
That's a difficult one to say because all of them have been special to me, if I had to choose one maybe I'd say... the West Pillar of Makalu because we worked together really well as a team.

Question
What sort of fitness training do you have to do to keep yourself in shape to climb?

Kitty Calhoun
I think the best training for climbing is to go climbing, but if I can't climb... I go running and lift weights, I've also started to stretch more too.

Question
I have a newborn child and I would like to know what you have found that works to get your children interested in pursuing climbing interests--and what does not work?

Kitty Calhoun
I have one son, he's almost five. And he likes bouldering, and I don't push him... I just let him try things and if he enjoys it then I try to give him as many opportunities as I can.

Question
I'm very, very new to climbing. What advice would you give a newcomer to the sport?

Kitty Calhoun
For me, the most difficult thing when I began climbing was finding partners. It worked out that once I found one person who climbed, they knew other people that climbed and it became easier and easier to find climbing partners.

Question
Are you enjoying the film festival? What have you done so far?

Kitty Calhoun
I am enjoying the festival very much, mostly I've been working on my presentation, listening to other peoples presentations, and I got to go climbing one day.

Question
It must be hard to leave you son behind to go on climbing trips, how do you handle it?

Kitty Calhoun
It is difficult, so far my son is handling it pretty well. And I know he's in good hands, so I just try not to worry about it.

Question
Do you have female role models in the climbing world? Are there any challenges for women climbers that maybe aren't there for men, as far as physical attributes?

Kitty Calhoun
Yeah, I have some female role models. Mainly Lynn Hill, and well, I don't know about physical attributes because there are a few instances, but very few, when it would help to have greater bulk strength.

Question
Even after seven years of climbing, I still experience fear whenever I start a climb. Does that fear ever go away and do you still experience it?

Kitty Calhoun
Sometimes in my bigger climbs, I still experience fear. Right before I leave home or right before I start up the climb, but that's also a special thing being amped up for a climb.

Question
Have you ever pushed your limit's to the point, where you said, "Whoa, maybe I should take a step back and stay there for a while." Meaning, have you climbed to the point where you felt if you continued to climb at that level, you felt certain that something bad could/would happen.

Kitty Calhoun
Yeah, especially when I turned around on (?), I thought that the margin for error was too slim on such a technical route in the conditions that we were in.

Question
Will your Alaskan climb be on Mount McKinley? If so, what route would you consider? Or do you have something up your sleeve in terms of a new route?

Kitty Calhoun
I have something up my sleeves in terms of a new route.

Question
How do you feel about the fact that many of the best alpine routes being done today are not given the same level of media coverage as big wall routes or expedition-style Himalayan climbs? Is it due to the nature of the climbing not being media-friendly or that top alpinists are not fully courting the media for exposure?

Kitty Calhoun
That's a difficult question, I think part of it may be that some objectives may be chosen because it's easier to get money for a big wall climb thats fixed. But then there are still a number of alpine stylist that aren't being published very much.

Question
Have you been climbing in the Andes?

Kitty Calhoun
I have, yes. In 1984 through 1988 or 1989.

Question
Do you plan to try any more 8000-meter peaks in the future?

Kitty Calhoun
That depends, I tried to get together a trip to climb an interesting route on K2 in 1993 and I couldn't find enough partners that were interested.

Question
The Mountain Summit here at Banff has brought together some of the greatest climbers in history. How does it feel to be included in that company?

Kitty Calhoun
I'm pretty flattered! A bit intimidated as well.

Question
How do you feel about the application of artificial goals, e.g. climbing all 14 8000ers, the Seven Summits, speed ascents of existing routes, etc.?

Kitty Calhoun
I don't think it's as exciting as when someone goes out and does a new route. I guess I would say that the only thing that you could legitimately criticize is when someone goes out and trashes the environment.

Question
How do you find balance between the commercial endeavors so often necessary to fund climbs and the climbing itself?

Kitty Calhoun
That's a difficult question also, I definitely don't let commercial pressures affect the decisions I make when I'm climbing. But at the same time, I try to do things in a good style and not let anything else affect my actions and thoughts or the things that I say and do.

Thank you for checking out our chat with alpinist Kitty Calhoun.

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