Anthony’s Journey

Written by Anthony Leong, Education Chair. Edited by Cara Dorney & RJ Lau.

In this series, you’ll get to know your committee members, and their unique backgrounds. We come from all walks of life and are a reflection of our diverse communities. This is Anthony’s journey.

九十年代當我還是一個中學生，我開始攀岩，那是在我的家鄉 — 澳門。

後來移居到了紐約，我嘗試重新尋找我的攀岩伙伴，但當時的我朋友不多，英語不好，當我問我身邊的朋友/同學/同事/表兄弟，根本沒有人感興趣，還覺得我是太瘋狂。

自己沒車去不了Gunks 野攀；紐約沒有岩館不容易開始 (當時 Chelsea 有一面高牆，但我沒有攀岩伙伴，而且對於當時的我，費用實在太高)；互聯網還在初期，不像現在有各種渠道尋找伙伴…等因素，使我暫時不能攀岩，那時真令我心灰意冷。後來我只好尋找徙步的朋友，再從徒步朋友中慢慢誘惑他(她)們嘗試更具技術性的一些活動，直到一天 — 2009/09/09 — 紐約第一家正規攀岩館開業，那就像春雨降臨。

幾年前，一位射擊教練/猎導朋友問我，那麼喜歡帶人，有沒有興趣當攀岩教練/岩導？之後這個問題一直浮現在我的腦海裡，我和我的攀岩朋友一起尋找前往這個方向的道路，報讀了一些 AMGA (美國登山嚮導協會)的課程，目的就是想以更安全的方式帶給更多的朋友喜歡攀岩。我和我的團隊仍在這方面繼續努力，希望下次能在攀岩的地方見到您，開心攀岩，安全攀岩。

When I was a middle school student in my hometown Macau in the 1990s, I started climbing.

Later I moved to New York, and I tried to find myself a new climbing partner.  But I didn’t have many friends at that time, and my English was not good. When I asked my friends/classmates/colleagues/cousins ​​around me, no one was interested. They all said I am too crazy.

I couldn’t go to the Gunks because I didn’t have my own car.  New York City didn’t have a climbing gym that I could easily access. (There was a wall in Chelsea at that time, but I didn’t have a partner, and that was too much money for me.) The Internet was still in its infancy, and there were not a lot of ways to find climbing friends like there are today.  It made me temporarily unable to climb, which really made me discouraged. Later, I made some friends in a hiking group, and then slowly enticed them from hiking to try some more technical activities. Then one day — 2009/09/09 — the first climbing gym opened, and it was like my spring coming.

A few years ago, a shooting instructor/hunting guide friend asked me, since you like to teach/lead people rock climbing, are you interested in being a rock climbing instructor/guide? Since then, this question has always come to my mind. My climbing friends and I looked for ways to pursue this goal. We enrolled in AMGA courses with the purpose of bringing more friends to climbing in a safer way.  We still continue to work hard in this regard, and we hope to see you in the crags next time. Happy and safe climbing!