Nick Sagar

Read more about Nick’s visit with our students

Nick was the kid who hogged the jungle gym at recess. While most kids loved the slide he knew there was no real challenge to the slide. Nick had a goal to go from one side of the monkey bars to the other.

A few years and many recesses later Nick managed to get out of school. He knew he didn’t want to go to university and he related that choice to that of the kids on the slide in the playground. It just didn’t seem to be for him. He saved his money and went rock climbing “on the road”.

Living and climbing “on the road” in a van for seven years brought lots of challenges. Some were sacrifices like, a steady income, indoor plumbing, a make shift kitchen that doubled as a bed. Many challenges were welcome like bouldering V11 and trying to climb his first 5.14b. After seven years of rock climbing the hardest routes in the country Nick was able to climb more stone then some people dream of climbing in a hundred life times.

During this time Nick worked in over 40 climbing gyms across North America as a personal trainer and climbing coach. After working with over 1000 climbers of all levels Nick found himself working and training with the best of the best with the likes of Jim Collins (author of “From Good to Great”), Butch Kerzner, Chris Sharma and Tommy Caldwell.

When Nick came off the road about 7 years ago the first thing he did was flush his toilet in his new house and exclaim “Wow, that is so cool but do you think I can have this and still climb lots too?” Slowly his question has been answered. His first clue was when he put up many new boulder problems harder then ones he had ever done before all the way up to V13. Then he then went to Yosemite and with the help of his long time climbing partner, Tommy Caldwell, Nick did the first free ascent of the Muir Wall on El Cap Grade V 5.13+ and at the time one of the hardest free climbs around.

Nick’s future goals, like most climbers, include doing harder and more difficult things then he has done before, but now not only in climbing but with climbing consulting business as well. He also thinks he can easily get to the other side of the monkey bars, although has yet to prove it and his son Fynn Sagar will be the first to you that!