Episode 53: Pride or Spray? with Kerry Scott

Photo by John Wesely (@lightningsnaps)

In today's episode, I sit down with Kerry Scott, an unassuming, but very badass young lady from North Carolina.  Besides coaching a youth team at Triangle Rock Club, Kerry is a crusher.  And she's not ashamed to "spray" a little.  You all know that I'm definitely not afraid to spray, and I appreciate it when others buck the norm.  

I've spent time in North Carolina, and I know that the southeast in particular can sometimes be a place where you're encouraged not to spray, and I think that is often unfortunate.  I agree that just puffing up to talk about yourself isn't helpful to anyone, but there is a fine line between spray and pride, and I think that Kerry did a beautiful job navigating that with the ascent of her first 14a, "Proper Soul."  We talk about why she put it out there, and what that's meant to her.  We also talk about her support system, and how important it is to have that.

Decide for yourself what's appropriate, but don't let others tell you not to be proud of yourself. And damn it, tell the world if that's what you want to do.  

We don't tweet.  We scream like eagles.

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FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Kris Hampton  00:31

 What's up everybody? I'm your host Kris Hampton. Welcome to Episode 53 of the Power Company Podcast brought to you by PowerCompanyClimbing.com. I am here in Salt Lake City for Outdoor Retailer. And, frankly, I'm going hard here. If you guys follow me on Instagram, then you know that I've been doing a ton of interviews and conversations for the podcast with some big names. I just had some great conversations with Steve Maisch and with Carrie Cooper and with the folks down at Gnarly Nutrition. We did several talking about BCAAs and protein and what their line has to offer. And I got to have a conversation with Dan John. And I'm actually about to go work out with Dan this morning, which is a little bit nerve wracking, to be honest, but really exciting. So I'm pushing hard for you guys. We got some great things coming up. And frankly, you know, this thing is becoming an addiction. And I'm going to cut myself off a little bit from doing as many interviews in the next few months, because I've got 40 waiting to go out to you guys. So and some really, really amazing conversations in there, so I can't wait for you guys to get those. Just a quick reminder, if you happen to be in Missouri, we will be there through mid to end of August. We'll be in Kansas City, we will be in Springfield and  we will be in St. Louis. So look us up at either ROKC Climbing Gym, or Zenith Climbing Center or at Climb So iLL, where we'll be seeing a lot of familiar and friendly faces. And we're looking forward to that. So look us up out there, please. We've got lots of exciting things coming. But I'm not going to tell you guys all about that right now, because you've been hearing a lot about it already and you'll be hearing a lot more very soon. Instead, we're gonna jump right into this, this really great conversation with a friend of mine named Kerry Scott. Kerry is a North Carolina climber who is very, very unassuming, but is very, very badass. And Kerry and I sat down in Chattanooga last winter to talk about a topic that that is pretty um...it divides people for sure. And that's this idea of spray. And for me, I can make a clear distinction between spray and being proud of yourself. And and I hope that after we have this discussion, you guys are able to see that too. Because I like for people to be proud of themselves. And I'm proud of myself often and proud of the people that I work with and proud of my friends. So. So I don't think this that, you know, putting your accomplishments out there into the world is a bad thing. And, and I'm glad that Kerry feels the same way. Because as you'll hear, you know, something that she accomplished inspired me as well as lots of others. So 

Kerry Scott  04:00

 We just kind of decided together that since we like hearing about what our friends do our friends probably like hearing about what we do. So we have an agreement that we're just always going to tell each other when we do something that we're proud of. And honestly, it's probably one of the best decisions we've ever made.

Kris Hampton  04:32

Yeah. Cool. Awesome. Well, good job. 

Kerry Scott  04:34

Thank you.

Kris Hampton  04:36

 So the reason I wanted to talk to you and I'll kind of give everybody a little brief background here. Nate and I, on our workshop tour this summer, came through North Carolina to Triangle Rock Club, and you coach the team there. You're one of the coaches. 

Kerry Scott  04:53

Yep. 

Kris Hampton  04:54

And I'm an observer. I think that's just my nature. So So you're very unassuming and humble. Like I never, when you pulled onto the wall, I didn't expect to see what I saw. And I'm not often surprised by people the way that I was surprised by your climbing. So, so I took notice, and I watched quite a bit and, and you were crushing in the gym, you know, and I see lots of people in the gym who don't necessarily crush outside. And I know because you're in North Carolina, and because you're a college student, you're probably not getting out a ton. But then, up pops this post on Instagram, that you had done. And I'll just go ahead and read a little part of it. It says, "Absolute disbelief. I sent my dream route today. Proper Soul 5.14aI.  can't believe how lucky I am to have an entire community of people who have supported me through this, especially..."and then you mentioned several of your friends. And I was first I was super stoked for you. Thank you like, holy shit, that's amazing. But then it was also like, wow, I'm so glad she put this out there, because because you're like, there's so many hidden crushers who never talk about what they do. And that's great. But I love to see the people come out of the woodwork who are doing really cool things and put it out there. And when I mentioned this to you the other day at breakfast, you you brought up that it was sort of a conscious effort, like you had talked about this with some people.

Kerry Scott  06:43

Yeah, definitely. It does feel kind of weird. And I know a lot of people are uncomfortable with it because I guess people think that it seems kind of like bragging. And I've been really fortunate to have a lot of people in my life who have been like really supportive, and are also doing really awesome things. And my roommate over the summer is definitely one of them and we kind of just decided that we get really psyched when we hear what our friends are doing. And I absolutely love it when Carolyn comes up to me and just like screaming about how she led her first 5.8, like that was super awesome. And we just kind of decided together that since we like hearing about what our friends do it, like our friends probably like hearing about what we do. So yeah, we have an agreement between the two of us and one of our other friends that we're just always going to tell each other when we do something that we're proud of. And honestly, it's probably one of the best decisions we've ever made. Because kind of like every day I come home and they, my roommate, has something awesome to share or like even if you don't, we're just kind of like, trying to stay positive and focus on like little things that we've accomplished and it just makes everything a little bit more fun.

Kris Hampton  07:54

Yeah, I think that's huge. And it's like, as a coach, you must like feel some pride and some stoke yourself when your kids do something cool. 

Kerry Scott  08:08

Oh, definitely. 

Kris Hampton  08:08

And when your friends do it, you know, it's even that much bigger. But that's all kind of insular, like, you know, you're, you're still not necessarily spraying as the bad term is 

Kerry Scott  08:21

Right. 

Kris Hampton  08:22

When you're telling your friends so

Kerry Scott  08:24

And it's easy to keep up with, like your immediate friends. Yeah, like, obviously, like my best friends know what I'm doing on a daily basis and I know what they're doing. But there's also like, especially within the climbing community when you traveled all sorts of different places, like you meet a lot of really cool people. And I like hearing about what they're doing and there's no way I'm going to hear about it unless they're the ones that are telling me right, so

Kris Hampton  08:47

Yeah, totally. And is that, is that why you put it on Instagram? Was it, how much of it was your own psych? Like, "Oh, god, I just want to put this out there." and how much was it, "I want the people I know who are following me to see what I just did."?

Kerry Scott  09:06

Probably like a little bit of both. I was definitely just really, really stoked about it. And it was something that I wanted to share with, like people who were following me or people who knew me and I knew that, like my friends back home would be pretty, pretty stoked for me as well. So it was it was just kind of exciting to post about.

Kris Hampton  09:28

Yeah, and there were a bunch of comments like people people were stoked.

Kerry Scott  09:32

I was shocked there was so much more support than I was expecting. It was honestly really incredible.

Kris Hampton  09:38

Yeah, and I think that's... I feel like that's missing, you know from from some of these guys out there who, don't get me wrong, it's totally fine if you don't want to talk about what you've done. If you don't want to spray about it, don't spray about it. You know I have no problem with that. What I get frustrated with are the people who try to push that idea that you shouldn't talk about what you do on to everyone else. 

Kerry Scott  10:09

Yeah. Definitely.

Kris Hampton  10:10

Even the, even some of the people I admire talk about the people who don't spray, or who don't talk about what they do, as if those people get more credit for doing it that way and I don't necessarily believe that. I think that they're doing what they want to do and that's great. But I also love to see people out there, inspiring everyone else. You know, that's why that's why I got so stoked on your post when I saw it was because it's just not common for people to publicly show that they're excited about what they're doing,

Kerry Scott  10:49

Which is kind of a shame. Like, people do really cool things all the time. And it does it, like gets everybody stoked about things. And, you know, I feel like a couple of people posted and said that they were really inspired to go and train harder that day or like, do something. And that was really amazing for me to hear that I had posted something that had inspired somebody to like, go and do something else.

Kris Hampton  11:13

Totally. That's the biggest part of it. How did the team respond? Because you've got some little crushers in there.

Kerry Scott  11:19

Yeah, they were they were really stoked. I actually, there's a kid on the team who really wants to go out and try the climb. Which is awesome for me, because my coaches, the one who inspired me to try the climb

Kris Hampton  11:33

Will?

Kerry Scott  11:33

 Yeah, Will Anglin

Kris Hampton  11:34

Shout out Will

Kerry Scott  11:35

How's it going? And so now I get to be the coach who inspires someone else to try a climb.

Kris Hampton  11:41

 Yeah, 

Kerry Scott  11:42

And this kid on my team can definitely do it, so that would be super cool. We just need to get out there and put a little bit of work in it.

Kris Hampton  11:48

Yeah, I think that's huge. Tell me a little bit about the story of Will inspiring you. I know you posted again on Instagram with that story, which I also think is a big thing, because a lot of people don't tell the background. They don't tell the story. And it's, you know, knowing that story, knowing that Will's the first one who inspired you to check it out and at first you were like, "Meh, whatever", you know, I think that's super cool. Like completing that story, for me makes the story even more powerful. So

Kerry Scott  12:21

Yeah, I thought that was a fun little story. Because I grew up climbing on the Earth Treks Climbing Team in Maryland and he was the head coach for... actually was he the head coach in Maryland? Well, he was one of them,  head coach of Rockville maybe, for for a year or so. And he was crushing out at the New and my friend Evan and I were really stoked on climbing at the New and Will would always have a list of routes for us to go and try, which was helpful because we were just starting to climb outside and didn't really know like, what to do what to get on. And so he always had recommendations for us and we absolutely loved it out there. The climbing there really suits me. It's like long, technical, put your foot by your face and lock off to your hip to climbing. And so yeah, we were getting psyched on all the climbs out there. So let's see, Will recommended Quinsana Plus and Dial 911, and we were working on those and

Kris Hampton  13:24

Was he just trying to scare you?  Is that what was going on?

Kerry Scott  13:27

Maybe I don't know. 

Kris Hampton  13:28

C'mon Will.

Kerry Scott  13:29

He's picking all the crimpy climbs that... I don't know...but he he told me to try. I just recently found out that he was on it. He said that he had been projecting it and like, getting really pumped and thinking that

Kris Hampton  13:47

Proper Soul?

Kerry Scott  13:47

 Yeah.

Kris Hampton  13:48

 Okay,

Kerry Scott  13:48

 So he had sent it but he was thinking like, oh, man, I'm really pumped but Kerry Scott would love this because that's always been one of my strengths is endurance, and Proper Soul is a very long endurance route. So he came back to the gym one practice and was like, yo, you should get on Proper Soul. I was like, Oh, cool. What is that? He's like, 5.14 at the New. I was like, umm, I haven't even sent 13 outside, so maybe maybe later, but it kind of stuck around something like in the back of my head.

Kris Hampton  14:21

Well I think that's a big credit to Will too, that he was out there trying something, getting pumped and thought, oh, Kerry should go do this. You know, and I think sometimes that's tough for a coach to suggest to the people they are coaching like, you should come and try this thing that's hard for me. You know, that's tough to do.

Kerry Scott  14:39

Yeah, well, I'm glad he did. Even at the time, I, like didn't ever want to get on it or wasn't really thinking about it but it was something that stuck in the back of my head.

Kris Hampton  14:51

Had you climbed 5.13 yet at that point? 

Kerry Scott  14:51

I don't think so. 

Kris Hampton  14:51

Right

Kerry Scott  14:51

 I'm not sure 

Kris Hampton  14:51

Forward thinker, Will. We like it. 

Kerry Scott  14:51

Haha but yeah, so I think I had it in the back of my head is something like one day I'm gonna send 5.14 and I want it to be Proper Soul at the New because the New is one of my favorite areas and like really the first crag that I like regularly went to. We would make weekend trips there pretty frequently so it kind of feels like my home crag even though it's a little far away, but

Kris Hampton  15:26

Yeah, and you said in your Instagram posts that the day you did Apollo Reed, which was your first 13a, is that right? 

Kerry Scott  15:34

It was my first 13a at the New.

Kris Hampton  15:35

At the New. Okay, yeah. The day you did it, Vasya said you should go try Proper Soul.

Kerry Scott  15:41

Yeah, that was that was kind of a funny one. I had fallen on the crux of Apollo, like right at the top, like three times and I was about ready to give up

Kris Hampton  15:51

You said three like it was a lot. 

Kerry Scott  15:53

Haha okay. Like three times that day.

Kris Hampton  15:57

Okay.

Kerry Scott  15:57

I'd been on it before. Well, like yeah, three times in one day and I was like.... because it's a lot of climbing before that too.

Kris Hampton  16:04

It is. It really is.

Kerry Scott  16:05

 So I was definitely getting tired and then like Vasya strolls in and I'm probably a little star struck and whatever. 

Kerry Scott  16:12

And we watched him on the, at the time The Dihedral Project, which goes starts on Apollo and then cuts right I think and then...I don't know... some crazy hard moves. 

Kris Hampton  16:12

Sure

Kris Hampton  16:24

Yeah I'm not sure where it goes.

Kerry Scott  16:24

I think it's called Journeyman now.

Kris Hampton  16:26

Okay.

Kerry Scott  16:26

 And anyway, so he was working on that and he's just like a super friendly guy. He actually like shouted down to Evan and I  and was like, "What do you think I should do here?" and we're like, I don't know. I'm gonna get back on my twelves. But so then I decided to give Apollo one more, one more try. And I was really excited that Vasya and Evan were cheering me on and I fought really hard through that crux like I don't...there are a few times I've tried that hard and that was definitely one of them. And so I sent the route and I came down and Vasya had mentioned that I, he had noticed that I had tried really hard and was super psyched on that. And he's like, wow, like you fought really hard on that. Seems like you have a lot of endurance like you should go check out Proper. I was like this is ridiculous. I don't know why people think I can climb Proper. 

Kris Hampton  17:15

Why do people keep telling me this?

Kerry Scott  17:17

Yeah. So then. So the second time I had heard it was on I think it really stuck. And I was like, wow, like, someday I want to do that climb. 

Kris Hampton  17:23

Yeah. 

Kerry Scott  17:24

Which is cool, because then I tried it my, the spring semester of my freshman year and just fell all over the place. Probably skipped like three moves and didn't even make it to the chains and I was like, okay, so still not ready for this. But then, earlier this year, I think at the end of August, I came back and tried it again, and actually, well I still fell a lot, but made it to the chains in less than like 45 minutes, so I guess that

Kris Hampton  17:53

You know, I think that's part of the process. Like when you're when you're getting on a grade that you still believe to be over your head, part of the process is just not making it to the chain.

Kerry Scott  18:03

Yeah. And I think it's good, because then you get on something and even if it's too hard for you, you kind of see where you need to be.

Kris Hampton  18:11

Yeah. And it keeps kind of calling your name. You're like yeah, I wonder maybe if I tried this, you know, maybe I'll go back and try this instead. And and then eventually you may get back there and you're like, oh, I've gotten better. 

Kerry Scott  18:25

Yeah

Kris Hampton  18:25

And then you start to believe more.

Kerry Scott  18:27

Right.

Kris Hampton  18:28

 I think that's really cool. So your roommate, which is what's her name? 

Kerry Scott  18:37

The one over the summer?

Kris Hampton  18:40

Um...let me let me look on your Instagram post. It says you told your roommate in 2015

Kerry Scott  18:44

Oh, Hannah. Hannah Smith. Roommate. Best friend. Soul mate.

Kris Hampton  18:48

And that was when you were like, 2015 is when you were like, I have to do this route. 

Kerry Scott  18:52

Yeah, it was the beginning of 

Kris Hampton  18:54

Enough people have told me now. 

Kerry Scott  18:55

Yeah, 

Kris Hampton  18:56

For god's sake, I need to go do it.

Kerry Scott  18:57

Yeah, beginning of my sophomore year, I got really stoked on it. And I think I, so the summer after my freshman year of college, I lived in the Red River Gorge and I worked at the Rock House and got to spend all the 

Kris Hampton  19:12

What year was that?

Kerry Scott  19:16

Uhhh....summer after my freshman year? 2015? Yeah. 2015

Kris Hampton  19:21

Oh, you were there in the summer?

Kerry Scott  19:22

 Yeah.

Kris Hampton  19:22

Okay. 

Kerry Scott  19:22

From like May until August.

Kris Hampton  19:23

 That's why we never met because I did not go there in the summer.

Kerry Scott  19:27

Haha. Yeah.

Kris Hampton  19:28

Haha okay.

Kerry Scott  19:29

But I think I learned a lot that summer and I learned a lot about getting on hard routes and projecting for a little bit and how like, things just got easier, the more you tried them and I came back to school with a fresh psych my sophomore, fall semester my sophomore year and I really, really wanted to make it out to the New and try Proper Soul and just like see where it went. And I told Hannah that I wanted to do it and didn't end up going to the New once that semester.

Kris Hampton  20:02

Yeah. I'm curious about that, actually, because I've read a bunch of studies. And there can...there's conflicting evidence that says, putting your goals out there is a good thing and putting them out there as a bad thing. 

Kerry Scott  20:16

Really?

Kris Hampton  20:17

So, yeah, 

Kerry Scott  20:18

I've haven't, I haven't heard the bad thing. 

Kris Hampton  20:20

So the reason that a lot of people feel it's a bad idea to put your goals out there is because in a lot of people, it triggers the same chemical response as actually doing your goals. Putting it out there and saying, "I'm gonna go do this" makes them feel as good as if they did it, so then they never get around to going and doing it.

Kerry Scott  20:44

 Interesting. I've never heard that before.

Kris Hampton  20:45

 Yeah, so. And I'm not a I'm not a fan of that. I'm a fan of putting my goals out there for everybody. My grandfather used to call it throwing your hat over the fence,

Kerry Scott  20:55

Because then you feel like a little embarrassed if you don't do them.

Kris Hampton  20:57

Yeah. And yes sort of. And for me, it's more like, if I really want to do something, and this is the way my grandfather put it, if you really want to do something, you throw your hat over the fence, meaning if you want to climb the fence, but you're scared of it, throw your hat over. Then you got to go.

Kerry Scott  21:14

Right.

Kris Hampton  21:15

 You know, you got to go get your hat. So that's what I like to do. If I have a goal that I'm like, I don't know, if I'm being wishy washy. I'm like, I'm just gonna put it out there, then I have to try it. 

Kerry Scott  21:27

Right. You're kind of committing to starting it. 

Kris Hampton  21:29

Yeah. And even if I fail, even if I don't reach my goal, you know, that's okay. I'm gonna give it everything I can give. Because I know there are people out there counting on me to at least try it. 

Kerry Scott  21:42

Right. 

Kris Hampton  21:42

You know, that's how I feel about it. So I was curious if you had put your goal out there at all?

Kerry Scott  21:47

Yeah.

Kris Hampton  21:48

Was Hannah the only person you talked to or were there others?

Kerry Scott  21:50

Um, Hannah knew about it. And then once I started seriously trying it, people knew that I was like working on it and that I was interested in it. But I think Hannah might have been the only one who knew prior to me, like really committing to it. So So then I didn't really get around to trying it my sophomore year. I got a little slammed with school pretty much the whole year

Kris Hampton  22:18

Which can happen.

Kerry Scott  22:19

 Yeah. But the beginning of this semester, I think more people knew about it. Carolyn knew about it and some of the other coaches.

Kris Hampton  22:27

Carolyn's the new roommate, is that right?

Kerry Scott  22:30

Yeah. Carolyn lived with me over the summer. 

Kris Hampton  22:32

Okay.

Kerry Scott  22:32

 She was subleasing from Hannah. 

Kris Hampton  22:34

Gotcha. 

Kerry Scott  22:34

Yeah. Two of the best girls in my life. They're so awesome.

Kris Hampton  22:38

Yeah. Those are good to have around.

Kerry Scott  22:40

Yeah, they're super supportive and super positive people. And they're both like really stoked on their own goals. So it's just like, a collective accomplishing, like working towards our goals thing, which is fun to have.

Kris Hampton  22:55

It's so cool to have,

Kerry Scott  22:56

Yeah, it's really motivating too, because even if like, someone accomplishes something in like a completely different field, like it's still exciting to be around, and motivating.

Kris Hampton  23:06

Yeah totally. One of my favorite things is actually, you know, the collective, The Power Company collective, Paul and Blake and Nate and I, all have a text thread, you know, that we are constantly texting each other on. And a lot of the times, it just turns into, you know, I tried this today, it was awesome. You know, I can't wait to get back to it. Or, you know, how did you do this move, because, you know, this move felt really hard to me, or it just becomes that stuff. Like, we're constantly putting our goals out there, what we're doing what we're trying what we did that day, you know, even even the failures get put out there. And it's always like, it becomes encouraging even about the failures, you know, which I think is super cool to have that kind of support group.

Kerry Scott  23:57

Yeah. Yeah. Because you're gonna fail a lot. And the people who stay positive around you, like help you learn from them.

Kris Hampton  24:05

Did you get any kind of pushback at all off of the excited post? Was there anybody who was like, Oh, you're just spraying? You know, did you hear any of that?

Kerry Scott  24:16

Um, no, actually, I really didn't.

Kris Hampton  24:19

 Good.

Kerry Scott  24:19

Which was awesome. I think most people have been really, really supportive and psyched for me, which is awesome. And if anyone does think I've been spraying they haven't said so.

Kris Hampton  24:30

Yeah. And, you know, I think that's kind of the case. Like, I've definitely heard it, but I spray in a much more public way and have for a long time. So So I've heard it a handful of times, but but that means, you know, zero in comparison to the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of messages I've gotten from people who are like, we're so stoked on what you're doing. You know, I love following you around or when I meet total strangers out at the boulders, you know, three times today I met met people who knew me from Instagram. And we're like, how's Golden Harvest going, you know? And I'm like, this is cool, you know. And I feel like even if I don't send the boulder, I still win. Like, I still have gotten people super stoked to go try something hard for them and showing them that it's okay to put it all out there. Put all your chips in on one hard thing and maybe not do it. 

Kerry Scott  25:29

Yeah.

Kris Hampton  25:30

 But when you do it, that's even more special. So

Kerry Scott  25:34

Yeah, there's a there's another little story to Proper that hasn't been shared. But

Kris Hampton  25:40

Are we going to share it?

Kerry Scott  25:41

We are going to share it.

Kris Hampton  25:42

Nice. Exclusive content. 

Kerry Scott  25:46

A little romantic shout out to my boyfriend who actually messaged a bunch of people that I've talked about who he knows that are like my close friends and had them write letters to me, which was crazy. But he worked on this with Hannah. They like

Kris Hampton  26:03

What's boyfriend's name?

Kerry Scott  26:04

 Alex Brooks.

Kris Hampton  26:05

 Good job, Alex.

Kerry Scott  26:08

But Hannah and him schemed together and got a bunch of my closest friends to write some letters. And the first one was from Alex, and it was good. So you know, telling people your goals, the first time that I like went to the New and I was gonna try Proper, I almost backed down because I was still really kind of afraid and intimidated by it and had a really bad mindset of not wanting to get on and fall all over it and embarrass myself, which was, I'm not proud of like, that's a bad mindset.

Kris Hampton  26:41

It is. But it happens to all of us.

Kerry Scott  26:42

Yeah, I think as long as you're being respectful and not taking a bajillion hours on the climb, like go for it. Fall all over it.

Kris Hampton  26:49

Yeah, exactly. Um, and you know, like I just said, it happens to all of us. So yeah, working your way through that process is what we all do.

Kerry Scott  26:57

But so I'm glad that I told him and Hannah that I wanted to do this thing, because when we got to the New and I almost backed out of it, I opened up and read his letter, and it was, "I hope that you're standing in the Cirque and staring up at a beautiful climb that inspires you and good luck." And he told me that it's gonna feel hard, and that's okay. And so that was really awesome. And then, every weekend,

Kris Hampton  27:23

Alex, I know I'm gonna get messages wanting to know if you have a brother. So we'll probably have to clarify that before I put this podcast out. 

Kerry Scott  27:32

Gosh, I hope I'm not completely embarrassing him. 

Kris Hampton  27:35

It's okay, it's what we do.

Kerry Scott  27:36

Alright, cool. But yeah, so then every, every weekend after that, before I left to go to the New, he would have like two more letters for me. And it would be such a surprise, and I wasn't allowed to open them until I got there. But

Kris Hampton  27:48

So he didn't give you all the letters at once. 

Kerry Scott  27:49

No, he saved them. And he, he had people tell him like what they wrote about so that he could give them to me at appropriate times. Because

Kris Hampton  27:59

What if she had flashed it, Alex? What if she had just done it that first day?

Kerry Scott  28:06

Definitely not. But yeah, so it was cool. Because every I mean, I was definitely expecting it to take a lot longer than it did and that was kind of cool for me to feel like I was embarking on like, a long journey. But you know, some of the letters were about how, like, from people who had been on the climb, and who, who knew the cruxes and they were like, Did you fall here? Did you fall there? Like, you know, it's okay, like, that's a heartbreaking fall but the fact that you're out there, and you're trying something that's hard for you is so awesome, and like a great experience, and you're gonna learn a lot from it. So that was awesome to read. And all of these were just like, kind of meant to like, pull me out of a rut if I were to get in one.

Kris Hampton  28:56

That's, that's one of the coolest things I've ever heard of. And definitely good job, Alex. I, I wouldn't have thought of that. So, yeah, I think that's pretty amazing.

Kerry Scott  29:07

 So that was pretty special. 

Kris Hampton  29:10

Yeah, I think I think it helps to have that good support network. And, and I think maybe that's part of what makes us secure in sharing it, you know, putting it out there for the rest of the world. And, and I honestly wish more people saw that it felt that way. You know, I get messages from people all the time who are because we have tons of clients, and they're like, Oh, I don't want to spray in a public forum, but, you know, your plan helped me do this, and this and this. And I'm like, that's great. You know, awesome. I'm stoked for you. But think of all the other people who would be stoked if you just shared our community page or whatever, you know. So I think that's extra extra cool. And and I think Alex and Hannah and Carolyn, is that her name? I think, I think they all get points, they all get credit for helping you share it, because so many people got something out of that said, glad to hear that. It wasn't just, it wasn't just your victory. It was everybody who saw the post and everybody who commented and liked and we had a conversation about it over dinner. I was having dinner with Nate and Annalissa and our friends, Eddie and Rachel and there might have been, there were several other people there. It was actually, it was Thanksgiving. We had Thanksgiving dinner, was it? It was Thanksgiving leftovers. Anyway. We had a big dinner in Lexington and we all ended up having a conversation about your send on Proper Soul. Because I brought it up to Nate like, hey, do you see Kerry did this, you know? And he was like, Yeah, I saw that. And we all talked about it. So you know, those, there are ripples. Those things, they just keep carrying on. So and it'll carry on again. As soon as I put this out, people are gonna be stoked again. So that's the the huge benefit of putting yourself out there and sharing that. And I know it's not easy. I know it takes thought, because it has been stigmatized for some horrible reason to, to spray. Spray is this bad word, you know, I wish it weren't. 

Kerry Scott  31:30

But yeah, I feel like, you know, someone definitely, well, Carolyn and Hannah have always been there. And we have our system of like staying positive and telling each other when we accomplish things that we're proud of. But there are definitely people when I was growing up, who kind of told me that it was okay to be proud of yourself or to do things. And that was definitely like something that I needed to hear in order to kind of be this positive and confident. And so maybe this will be something that we can tell everyone else, it's okay to be proud of yourself.

Kris Hampton  32:05

Yeah. And I think your kids are gonna take that away, too. I hope so, you know,

Kerry Scott  32:09

They're really good at staying positive.

Kris Hampton  32:11

They are. They're, they're a really good group. And, you know, I think one of the things that we worked on while we were there, and they were already frankly good at was just, you know, communicating with each other, instead of always just looking to the coaches, you know. Communicating with each other and helping each other and supporting each other and, and I really think that having you put yourself out there like that is gonna, they're all gonna see that, you know, they know how to use Instagram better than I do, I'm sure. So they're all going to see that and be super stoked for it. And I just think it's, I think it's huge. I think that that has waves that you can't even know are happening, you know, so yeah, so I'm stoked. And thank you for putting that out there. 

Kerry Scott  33:01

Well, thank you. 

Kris Hampton  33:03

All right. I think that's, that's good. I don't want to keep you too long. I know you got your whole cabin of friends down here who are

Kris Hampton  33:12

Frankly, probably asleep. We've been rolling with the 9:30 bedtimes recently.

Kris Hampton  33:20

Yep. Yeah, I need to get with that program. So all right. Thanks, Kerry. I appreciate it.

Kerry Scott  33:24

Thank you for having me.

Kris Hampton  33:28

 Awesome. I really love seeing and hearing about, especially young people right now, being able to publicly be proud of their accomplishments without having that push back. The climbing community can be old and surly. And it's really cool to hear that Kerry didn't have any pushback and that she'll do it again, you know, the next time she's proud of herself. She'll do it again. And and I'm really looking forward to that. And Alex, again, good job. That's brilliant. All of you boyfriends out there. Take note. Man, we got so much coming up. It's so hard to even tell you all about it. So I'm just gonna wait to tell you about it. You know, if you're in Missouri, to look as up, middle to end of August. We'll be at your gym. We will also be in Boise, Idaho, at the very end of August 25 26th 27th, I believe. So if you're in Boise, come and see us at Asana. We're really looking forward to getting to know the community out there as well. And one more time thanks to Kerry for sitting down and doing this. I know it's it's even harder to you know, spray, so to speak, about your accomplishments on a podcast than it is to just post an Instagram post. So, so thanks, Kerry. I really appreciate that. And I hope to see you again soon. And I hope to see all you guys very very soon. Lots of things coming up. In the meantime, you can find us on the Instagrams. You can find us on the Facebook's and we would love for you to be our friend. And like us over there on the Facebook's. You can find us on the Pinterest if you're a Pinterester. Is that what you guys call yourselves? Pinteresters? If you're a Pinterester go look for us. We got lots of stuff up there. And you can find us at PowerCompanyClimbing.com but you cannot find us on the Twitter's because we don't tweet. We scream like eagles.