Episode 16: Timy Fairfield

The Project Bouldering Podcast

This episode is dedicated to Quincy Conway. Thank you for your inspiration and constant smile. Your light continues to shine. We are pleased to share this candid, in-depth episode with legendary New Mexican climber Timy Fairfield. We start this interview with Timy from the very beginning: his birth, upbringing, and first introduction to climbing by his uncle. The conversation then moves to a discussion of his athletic path through skiing, soccer, and eventually climbing as his his chosen form of self expression. As a young person, Timy had a proclivity to train and during this period could often be found putting in work outside of dedicated practice times. Through his experience playing under international soccer coaches, he found his passion for exploring the world. Traveling broadened his perspective, and he dedicated himself to gymnastic training to aid his climbing development. Timy decided to attend night classes in his senior year of high school so he could climb and train during the day and quickly progressed to become one of the most promising young climbers on the world stage. Here he shares his lack of fulfillment with the education system and what it meant to start learning philosophy from his grandparents, and the conversation progresses to a discussion of the beauty of climbing and guiding the next generation of climbers. Timy has built up an incredible life’s work and recently sent his hardest boulder problem, Throwback (V15). Having made huge contributions to climbing development in New Mexico and elsewhere, he discusses important ethical issues of developing climbing areas with regards to what it meant at the beginning of his career and what it means now. He continues to push himself and grow every day.