Janet Bergman

What MH are you wearing now?
High step pant and Tonga hoody– the perfect lounge wear.

Which season do you enjoy most and why?
Fall for sure. Crisp temps and pretty colors here in New Hampshire. It’s a good time to be at home.

What are you listening to on your iPod right now?
I just got home from Cuba, so I’ve been listening to a salsa band we saw in Havana called Kamaraco.

Best Halloween Costume?
A green dragon with a three foot long stuffed tail.<Do you have a dream project? If so, what is it?
Climbing - Free climb El Capitan, Personal - Build a house.

How did you first get started with climbing? How old were you?
I started to rock climb at 16 or so, on Whipp’s Ledges in Hinckley State Park, Ohio. I begged my older brother Andy to take me out with him and fell in love with it instantly. Then when he left for college I pilfered his gear and started teaching myself.

Any advice for folks wanting to become involved in your activities of choice?
Becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable…whether it is buying the plane ticket for a trip before having a partner lined up or leaving the warmth of the sleeping bag for a 4 am start to the day. The weather will not always be perfect, nor will the conditions, but today's technology is made so we can try to endure both. So the only person really stopping me is me, and the views along the way are certainly not the same from in these four walls.

What can you tell today’s youth about life in the outdoors?
There is NOTHING like it (including Nintendo Wii)! If a part of you wants to go explore, don't let anything stop you because there are really incredible things to see and experience out there.

Personal Highlights:
Building a cabin with my boyfriend Freddie during the summer of 2007. I learned how to use a skilsaw while we were making the first cuts…and it actually came out OK! Another highlight is partnering with my mom in her company Transitions Unlimited, which provides organizational development and other services to nonprofit organizations.

Favorite Quote?
“Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it, because what this world needs is more people who have come alive.” – Howard Thurman

Career Highlights:

• 1985 Route, La Esphinge (800m, 5.11) Cordillera Blanca, Peru, with Sarah Garlick, 2004
• Anglo-American Route, Innominata (600m, 5.10+ A1) Patagonia, Argentina, with Sarah Garlick and Kirsten Kremer, 2006
• Zodiac Wall, El Cap (VI, 5.9 A3, and freshly cleaned!), Yosemite, with Sarah Garlick, 2006
• Various bouldering/sport climbing ascents, including first ascents, up to V7/5.12+

Recent activities:

• Indian Beauty Queen (V+ 5.10 A1), first known ascent of Peak 5394,Manikaran Spires, India, with Freddie Wilkinson, Pat Goodman and BenDitto, 2008
• Red Pillar (V 5.11 A1) on Mermoz, Argentine Patagonia with ZackSchlosar, 2008
• The Nose (VI 5.9 A1) on El Capitan, Yosemite, in ~15 hours with FreddieWilkinson, 2008
• Comasana-Fonrouge route with rock ridge ‘sit start’ (V+, 5.10, A1) onGuillamet, Argentine Patagonia with Kirsten Kremer, 20081985 Route (V 5.11 A1) on La Esphinge, Cordillera Blanca, Peru, with SarahGarlick, 2004
• Anglo-American Route, Innominata (V, 5.10+ A1) Patagonia, Argentina,with Sarah Garlick and Kirsten Kremer, 2006
• Various bouldering/one pitch ascents, including first ascents, up toV7/5.12+

Bio:

Janet Bergman, an Ohio native, moved to New Hampshire in 1998 and was soon hooked on the solitude of wilderness travel and the dynamic, gymnastic movement of rock climbing. The logical integration of those two activities was rock climbing in the mountains, so after a crash course in ‘trad’ climbing, she and Sarah Garlick departed for the high rock face of La Esphinge in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca, where they brought a bouldering pad instead of crampons and ice axes for acclimatization. Her adventures have since taken her to Argentina, China, Cuba, India, Nepal, South Africa and throughout North America. A self-proclaimed sissy, Janet says climbing in the mountains is when she gets a chance to see that side which shows itself only at the moments when it really seems to matter, whether on a one-day ascent of El Capitan in Yosemite or a first ascent of a peak in the Indian Himalaya.

A development consultant to nonprofit businesses, Janet spends most of her non-climbing and non-office time getting her hands dirty working a patch of land she and her boyfriend Freddie Wilkinson live on in Madison, New Hampshire. She also feels compelled to share the places seen and people met on expeditions when possible, usually doing so through slideshows and freelance writing.