Imagining a Line
By FARHA GUERRERO
On August 25th, my son's 20th birthday, we were driving through Squamish, British Columbia, listening to the broadcast of my radio show, The Blue Hour, on CiTR 101.9 FM. It was the transmission of my pre-recorded interview with Italian rock climber Federica Mingolla, recorded in our home in Aosta just the week before.
As we drove, I captured on my iPhone the moment the Stawamus Chief came into full view. Federica was talking about imagining a line. Someone, of course, imagined lines on the Chief decades ago.
Farha: How do you envision a line?
Federica: It's difficult to explain. It's something you feel.
You see a wall and you say, "Maybe there."
Sometimes in granite you follow a system of cracks. Sometimes on limestone you follow the colour of the wall.
So how you imagine a line, is a mix of romanticism and also rational things.
You can also read and listen to my original interview with Federica, Perpetual Evolution: A Conversation with Federica Mingolla, One of Italy's Most Renowned Climbers.
I don't usually post photographs on my blog, but I'm sharing this one with Federica, taken on the day we climbed together in Valle d'Aosta. My smile captures everything.