How Tyler Thompson Masters the Art of Sending Quickly

Tyler Thompson surprised everyone with a string of unexpected successes this spring climbing season. But the person he surprised most was himself. 

“I haven’t been climbing ‘hard’ for very long,” Thompson laughs. “So, I didn’t really know what I was capable of.”

He didn’t have to wait long to find out. Over the course of a four-week tour through Utah, Thompson ticked two of his hardest routes in astonishingly quick succession. First came Life of Villains (14d) at the Hurricave in St. George just two weeks into the trip. “That was actually my first of the grade,” Thompson noted. “I’ve sent 15a at the New, but somehow skipped right over 14d. So, it was nice to flesh out the top of my pyramid like that.”

< Photo by Daniel Gershin

After two more weeks filled with celebration and a handful of fitness routes, Thompson took a chance on another limit route: Joe Kinder’s Bone Tomahawk (14d/15a) in the Fynn Cave. With only a few days left before a stop in Salt Lake City, time wasn’t on his side. But despite the deadline, he decided that there was more to lose from skipping out than giving it a go. In the end he only needed four sessions to score the send. 

It’s clear that Thompson thrives under pressure. On his best single day of climbing to date, he nabbed the FA of an old, bolted project in the Cirque area of the New River Gorge, which he named Superluminal with a grade of 14c. He then proceeded to flash the 14a next door that afternoon. Even his longest project, Full Metal Brisket (15a) in the Summersville area of the NRG, only lasted 30 days before going down. In the grand scheme of projecting, that’s barely a blip.  

Such quick sends stem from the fact that Thompson spends most of his time in “redpoint mode”. That’s largely out of necessity; he’s a full-time student studying physics at James Madison University in Virginia, and schedules climbing trips around his demanding school schedule. He usually doesn’t have more than a handful of days or—if he’s lucky—weeks to work on a climb before it’s back to the books. The time crunch has helped him hone his concentration skills so he can get into a focused headspace right off the ground. 

“I definitely prioritize sending and trying to climb as many new routes as possible,” Thompson explains. “I’d like to have bigger projects more often, I just don’t have consistent access to them. I really enjoy the projecting process, because being able to take your time on things takes some of the pressure off. But I think trying to send things quickly has helped a lot with my mindset.”

Thompson’s MO just goes to show that he’s only getting started. As his redpoint grade creeps higher, so does the high-end potential that he’s barely skimmed so far. He’s laying the bricks now for an awe-inspiring future in climbing still ahead. 

> Photo by: Hansac Ho

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Tyler Thompson drinks Sendure-X on the way to the crag and stirs Weapons-Grade Whey into his morning oatmeal on a daily basis. The combo keeps his muscles on the ready for redpoint action whenever a weather window or a study break strikes.