Oral history interview of Steve Maisch, conducted by Tallie Casucci (audio and transcript)

Steve Maisch (b. 1971) grew up in Connecticut skateboarding and telemark skiing. Steve took a year off from high school to travel for skateboarding contests. After his high school graduation, Steve drove his motorcycle cross country and spent the next few years splitting him time between Connecticut in the summers and Tahoe, CA or Jackson, WY, in the winters. While in Tahoe, his friend introduced him to rock climbing. Pretty quickly Steve started living out of his car, "living in the dirt," and rock climbing around the Intermountain West. Steve discusses the climbing culture and the different factions in the 1990s. Steve eventually settled in Salt Lake City to attend the University of Utah for his undergraduate studies and eventually got his PhD with the goal of becoming a professor. Steve discusses the impact of friend, Dave Bell, on modern climbing, and the role of the Body Shop, the first Salt Lake Climbing gym, on the climbing community. In part two, Steve talks about developing and repeating boulders in Little Cottonwood Canyon and Joe's Valley, and sport climbing in American Fork Canyon and Maple Canyon. Steve also discusses training, his training website, and the new emphasis on training for climbing.