Sport climber, writer, entrepreneur, MMA promoter; Las Vegas, Nevada
Every few years,
Stephanie Forte, 44, whips
herself into top shape and
climbs a flurry of hard 5.13s. She capped off one fitness
peak in 1999 by sending Soul
Train, then called 5.14a, at Mt.
Charleston, Nevada, and sent
her most recent 5.13d in Arizona’s
Virgin River Gorge just
last year. A New Jersey girl
with a sharp wit, a publicist’s
poise, and fierce athleticism
on the rock, Forte has written
for Climbing many times and
has had her hands on all kinds
of climbing-related events
and causes, most conspicuously
her devoted work for
the HERA Women’s Cancer
Foundation’s events. The five-foot-half-inch (“don’t forget
to mention the half-inch—it’s
important,” she says) dynamo
is a born publicity agent, and
among her current clients is
XYIENCE, “official energy drink
of the UFC.” So these days
when Forte isn’t sending hard
at Mt. Charleston, she can
often be found hanging out
and training with professional
mixed martial arts athletes.
Growing up, I was not athletic.
I shopped, was voted “best
dressed,” and was intent on a
career killing it on Wall Street.
After my first trip to
the desert, I knew I’d never
leave the West. I also discovered
there was a half-decent
athlete living inside my body.
Being petite has made me a
better climber because I have
to be creative. My sequences
are often dramatically different
than what’s “crag-approved.”
I’ve learned not to even attempt
to simply follow the chalk trail.
Climbing has been the
greatest gift I’ve ever
received, so I love all climbing
areas. Especially since they all
come with a nice selection of
extremely fit belay-boys.
I’ve been practicing yoga for 16 years, and for the past
two years I’ve practiced Bikram
a minimum of three days per
week. My flexibility has seen a
huge increase in the last year,
and that’s been a factor in my
recent climbing performance.
In 2009, I decided to follow
a Costa Rican surf god into
waters where I clearly didn’t belong.
I wiped out, whacked my
board, and broke two ribs. I was
flailing around in the water, and
like a gentleman the surf god
carried me to the beach—and
then let me know that his wife
was a nurse and could be right
over to check on me.
My climbing has really
been influenced by the MMA.
The intensity and effectiveness
of the training is why so
many professional athletes in
action and traditional sports
are now training at mixed
martial arts gyms.
I’ve learned a lot about
what it means when they say
a fighter has heart. There are a
few fights in particular where
I thought to myself, “If I approached
every route with that
amount of heart, I’d send a lot
more routes.”
I wouldn’t trade the
experience of growing up
in New Jersey. The friends I
made in junior high are still
the women who today I call my
best friends.
