After history was made this January when Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson completed the Dawn Wall in Yosemite, the mainstream media went into a frenzy. SF Gate visited Diablo Rock Gym to see if the attention that climbing was getting was causing more interested in the climbing in the gym.
Speed climber Hans Florine, the general manager of Diablo Rock Gym in Concord, said people young and old have been asking him about the Dawn Wall climb, which he hopes will inspire people to at least come to the gym, clamber up the walls and get in shape.
“We have a saying here at Diablo Rock Gym: Do Hard Things,” said Florine, who has held the speed record of 2 hours, 23 minutes and 46 seconds on the Nose route with Alex Honnold since 2012. “Many folks here have commented that Tommy and Kevin certainly have done that. A few folks have asked jokingly if I’ll go up there and do it faster than them. … I have to explain (to some of them) that it’s very different from what I do.”
