Raised in the Mormon town of Lindon, Utah, Boone Sheridan Speed, 42, never quite fit in. Speed's was a dual world, with artistic parents (his father, Grant Speed, is a renowned Western bronze sculptor) who were also devout Mormons. Speed left the Mormon fold at 19, and when he found climbing — in the mid-1980s, through a coworker at his dad's foundry — it became his driving force.

Highly creative and nonconformist, Speed has for decades played a pivotal role in our sport: in 1994, he established the first 5.14b on American soil (Super Tweek, Logan Canyon), and has helped develop several major Utah destinations, including American Fork and Little Cottonwood canyons, Joe's Valley, and Ibex. Speed's also worked in brand development, and to this day photo-documents his world travels with an abstract, poetic eye. Click here for a Chuck Fryberger video of Speed at his family foundry.

When did it all begin?
Well, back in 1964, sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, my mommy and daddy started kissing. … 

Where did your name come from?
My Uncles. Speed is a family name and I’m named after two uncles — Boone and Sheridan. So I don’t even have a middle name to fall back on. Boone Sheridan Speed is my full name, and none of those are usual. I’ve always felt like I didn’t fit in. I always feel a little bit different, but I’m at peace with that now. It used to be weird — having a name like Boone Speed in a small high school in Utah, it’s pretty rough. It wasn’t easy at all.  

What roles have you played in the climbing industry?
Gumby, prodigy, teacher, leader, follower, finder, developer, shoe designer, product designer, photographer, hold shaper, entrepreneur, writer, comp thrower, smack talker, wise man, and fool. 

How did you get into climbing?
A friend I worked with asked me if I’d like to go climbing. You know why he asked me? Cause he saw me wearing Patagonia shorts. True story. The first days I went climbing, I was bouldering in these Asolo hikers. I had no idea what climbing was — this guy just took me, and I asked, ‘Where’s the grappling hook?’ I had no idea. It was so unknown and I just knew I wanted to do it. From that day (July 28, 1985), my life was different.

[We would go] up in he mountains above Provo, at a place called Rock Canyon, on these little quartzite slabs wearing Asolo hiking boots. The routes are these heinous 85-degree slabs on quartzite dime edges and some of my first leads were on one RP between me and 20-feet. Jagged teeth. You would never do that. That’s insane. 

[Back then,] Utah wasn’t on any climbing maps, with the exception of desert sandstone. Not a single climbing gym existed anywhere, three-cam units weren’t available yet, all bolts were hand-drilled, and most of them were only 1/4” by 2” long. Basically, you had to be lucky enough to be exposed to the sport and even luckier to somehow get hooked up with someone willing to be your mentor. I consider myself really, really lucky. 

What was it about climbing that hooked you?
I always climbed trees as a kid. I climbed counters. It just felt easy to me and fun — and what an adventure! I grew up pretty sheltered. My parents are both super creative, but also they’re very religious too. So it was a weird combination of open-mindedness — the sky is the limit to oppressive Mormonism. It was a really weird thing, and I have already kind of wrestled with that in my late teens — the whole religion thing. None of that really makes sense to me. So when I discovered climbing, it was the next frontier. I feel like I was born in my late teens. I got off to a late start. I never went to Europe until I was 25, and now I’ve traveled all over the world.