Fly on the Wall

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'No one told me I couldn't,' she declares. Being small was simply a factor, not a barrier, for Hill, who is fascinated with 'the process of things.' She learned long ago to turn disadvantages into assets, using her strong legs to launch her up where the reach was too far, allowing her to slide her small frame into tight cracks and corners where a bigger body would falter.

Hill was encouraged by early partners like John Long, a remarkable endurance climber who was the first to suggest that she attempt her legendary Nose-in-a-day free ascent. But she only bit if there was fun, not just sweat, involved. 'There are some climbs that I never bothered to throw myself at because it just wasn't enjoyable-maybe it was too reachy, or maybe so challenging that it would be more frustrating than fun,' she admits. 'Most of the time, I'm able to find a way.'

That philosophy has been a constant in Hill's life. Early on, she excelled at sports, particularly solo sports where the focus was on technique, process. She competed in gymnastics, swimming and track. But when she first hooked a rope through her harness and scrambled up a route at Big Rock, with her sister and soon-to-be brother-in-law belaying her, Hill sensed that she had found her passion. A year later, she was addicted.

'Part of it was getting out of the city on weekends and being with my older sisters and their friends. I liked the beauty of places like Joshua Tree and Yosemite,' she recalls. 'But I really enjoyed the movement and the push-pull forces, being completely absorbed in being a shape on the rock face.'

By the time she was 20, she had moved to New York to study physical therapy at the State University College at New Paltz. It was during her New York days, guiding in the Shawangunks, that Hill began to attract the attention of competition organizers and sponsors. Soon she was paying for school with her prize money from Europe and the U.S., where climbing took hold in a big way in the early to mid-'80s. She became a fixture on the international climbing circuit, holding her own with legends like Long, Jim Bridwell, Bill Westbay, Patrick Edlinger, Mari Gingery, Brooke Sandahl and Catherine Destivelle.Hill was one of the coterie of climbers who helped spawn the current pop notion of extreme sports. But as climbing morphed into a more mainstream sport-and a more lucrative one for sponsors and competitors-it underwent massive philosophical changes. Slowly the raw outdoor experience gave way to rock-gym life, where a climber can practice his or her moves with little risk. The sport, or at least its competitive arm, became largely relegated to synthetic environs. 'It has become a plastic world,' Hill laments of the pro circuit.

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