I first got into climbing back in 1995 with a desire to climb Long's Peak, which would make me the third generation of Ashwoods to climb it. I have always loved hiking in the mountains, but had never even done a class four hike, so I decided to try to do some technical rock climbing. I contacted Jim Thurmond at the Goodlife Climbing Gym and we set up a time to go climbing. Jim and I would soon become good friends and jumar up the Diamond together (part of the camaraderie of climbing).

My first climbing adventure was just outside St. Louis, right off the river, at a place called Mammoth Cave. First, we had to rappel about 80 feet down the cliff in front of the massive cave. This was the scariest part, for I had a tremendous fear of heights. At this point, I couldn't get within a couple feet of a cliff without losing my balance — even with two ropes tied to me. On my first rappel, I fell twice before getting to the edge of the cliff. Following my first rappel, I was able to get close to the cliff and rappel without falling or losing my balance. The first time I stepped backwards off of a cliff, my heart was racing with knots in my stomach.

After I had rappelled down a few feet, I became immersed with the view and gained a respect for rappelling, even though I still had knots in my stomach. Jim rappelled down after me and found a place to set up my first climb (about a 5.4 difficulty). Because of my cerebral palsy, I didn't think I would be able to climb it on my first try, but I've always believed nothing ventured, nothing gained, so I started up. As I climbed up the cliff, my spirits soared a little more with each step I made. When I made it up the cliff on my first attempt, my spirit was elevated to new heights. After I had finished climbing for the day, my muscles were sore all over but I felt like I was walking on air. This feeling would intensify even more as I began climbing in Colorado.

When I went to Colorado later that summer, I met Mike and Topher Donahue from the Colorado Mountain School. Topher was my guide when I went rock climbing. I became friends with both Topher and Mike, and Topher came up to take pictures of me on the Diamond last fall.

Later, I went with Mike for my first alpine climbing experience. We went up to the top of the Trail Ridge Road. As with rock climbing, I didn't think I would be able to do the alpine climb on my first try. What I enjoyed most that day was that I completed the climb. Since this was my first alpine climb, it proved to be more exhilarating than the rock climbing.

Because I love the mountains, I found that climbing sends excitement all through my body. Not only did I have the physical and mental challenge of climbing, the scenery and feeling of being in the mountains raises the climbing to a new height.

—Tim Ashwood, Living the Life with MountainZone.com