Pay It Forward Tour Highlights - Catching Up With Friends

After Rhode Island I made it a point to stop and see a couple of friends who I met on my first climbing trip ever. We met in “The Gunks” with Paradox Sports. Gary Dunn is a guide for Paradox and Sean O; Neill is one of the founders and also happens to be the most accomplished sit climber I know. He has a laundry list of adaptive sports achievements from pushing his wheelchair up Mauna Kea and Mt. Washington to climbing El Capitan 3 times.

Sean O’ Neill

I met Sean in “The Gunks” in 2013 at my first Paradox Sports event. As I said before he is a very accomplished sit climber and overall adaptive athlete. When we met he taught me a lot of the techniques I use to climb. We also became good friends and learned that we only lived about an hour apart. That came in handy when I was training for El Capitan. Who better to train with than someone who has done it 3 times. Sean took me over to his brother Kevin’s house while I was there to show me the shop where Sean does his metal work and other art. Sean has a large family so I have only met a few of the crew. I hadn’t seen Sean in a year so it was great to be able to catch up and see all the great things he had been working on. If you would like to inquire about his art he can be reached at [email protected]

Gary Dunn

Gary has been a mentor and friend ever since we also met in “The Gunks” in 2013. When I need to figure out a system to do something he is my go to person. When I was trying to figure out if I could use mechanical advantage to climb El Capitan, he was the one that spent hours with me trying different configurations. We eventually decided against it because it slowed me down and effected my position in my harness. Gary also has twin girls who happened to turn 5 while I was visiting. They are the cutest most adventurous girls you will ever meet. On the way there i was having issues with all my stuff sliding up to meet me in the van every time I hit the brakes a bit too hard. Gary helped me reconfigure and I haven’t had a problem since.

I arrived at his house a bit late but he had the fire pit roaring and we sat outside for quite awhile just catching up on life. You know you have a true friend when you can show up at their house and it is like no time has passed.I only stayed the one night but am very grateful for the help.