Episode 10 - Parvin Transcript === [Parvin] : Every night I told myself, "Maybe tomorrow you are not alive." And I climb again the next..... I think projecting is a really important part of climbing. It changed my life really. Like, when I started climbing, it changed my life. [Sean] : Hey everybody, welcome to another Icebox Session. My name is Sean Cassidy, and we are having conversations with Nova Scotia rock climbers. For this episode, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Parvin Jahan, who has an amazing climbing resume. Parvin moved to Halifax from Iran in 2021 and began working at East Peak Climbing Gym, where she is now the head route setter. She is a passionate coach, an internationally certified competition judge, and former member of Iran's national climbing team. Please join us in the Icebox, where we catch glimpses of the Middle East and the healing power of climbing. Do you miss the mountains? [Parvin] : A lot. Here, I haven't climb a lot, but this year is my first year that I started, going outdoor a bit more. I went to Jesse's Diner. [Sean] : Okay. Yeah. [Parvin] : It's really nice. I, It's not, really high boulders there, so I enjoyed a lot. It's sharp. I find- ... the rocks are sharp here. [Yeah.] Sharper than, climbing in outdoor before. Yeah. [Sean] : Yeah. It takes some getting used to and some callous. So when did you move here? [Parvin] : We moved here, in December 2021, more than four years ago. [Sean] : And why did you come here? [Parvin] : I love my, community in Iran and even Iran, this country, but because of so many, what we call, problem that happened in Iran, like money problem, I forgot the good name for it. [Sean] : Oh, the economy? [Parvin] : The economy thing. Because of, hard situation for people, we finally decided to try going other country and try new experience, and I'm so happy that I land in Halifax, and now I'm here. Because I really... I, find here is very calm, very green and blue, and I came from very crowded city. I remember every day, every morning that I left the home, it's like everything pass, the time pass so fast. But here, it's very, for me, slow and I can... It's maybe funny: I can have a dream at night here, but I've never had any dream before in my country- ... because I was so busy and I, I was so, I had so many - [Frantic and-] task and job on the same time- in, my home. [Sean] : So you've got the perfect job right now. I think it's got that... It must be a work-life balance thing for you to- [Parvin] : Yeah, I'm very lucky that exactly two..three days after we arrive Halifax, I have my job appointment with Jackie. [Sean] : Amazing. Amazing. So she- I asked her..... well, just to back up, when I had the idea to start this podcast, I met up with Jackie last summer, and we had a good chat and brainstormed potential guests that I could talk to. And she brought up your name and told me a little bit about your story and that I think she said she hired you while you were still in Iran. Like you were- Yeah, before I come. Yeah ... you and Kousha were planning to come here. Yeah. And you've had an impressive resume, so she signed you on to come, here, and now I think you're the head setter at the gym, right? [Parvin] : Yeah. I'm head setter at East Peak now. I'm happy about this. [Sean] : It sounds amazing. Tell us about the job and East Peak. [Parvin] : East Peak for me, it's not only it's my second, I can say it's my second home. I climb a lot in so many different gyms in like different country, but the big difference between East Peak and other gyms, it's like in so many gyms people try to climb harder and harder, like it's not on all of them, but in so many of them people try to show off like muscles and I'm strong. But in East Peak it's more about a good community. People can climb with having fun and like chatting and like speaking together and climb too. I told one of my friend, it's like a coffee shop- ... that people can, climb and chat. It like [- Nice. Yeah. It's not-] ... in coffee shop people can do [- It's not so serious] and chat. Here can climb and chat. And it's really like fun place for me that I can share even my some experience that I have with that community. [Sean] : So it's more of a more relaxed environment. Is that how you'd put it? [Parvin] : Yeah, because people like in so many gyms, like I train competitors, so they have a goal like going for competition, so they are just thinking about the goal and trying to climb harder and harder. Or, like people have project like climbing, the hardest route or 5.13 or I don't know, V8, so they are focusing on the goal and try to practice in the gym. here goal is like having a good community to have activity too. So it's not like only thinking about I wanna be a best climber in that gym or compare with myself, I wanna be like, strongest, stronger than last year. I can say gyms in like Iran, people are- ... more focusing on climbing. [Sean] : There's no chatting. [Parvin] : But here it's not yeah, not like this. [Sean] : Interesting. [Parvin] : We have a different culture in... How can I say? Like family is really important in our culture. I believe moving have two parts: like beautiful thing and like kind of hard thing. So the hard part like missing family, missing that supporting thing, missing food, culture, everything is part of. [Sean] : Yeah. In the situation back home now, probably you don't wanna talk too much about it, and people probably ask you about it a lot, but- [Parvin] : Yeah ... [Sean] : I know, your friends and people around are like, "Wow, what the, hell is going on over there?" Must be brutal [Parvin] : I, unfortunately, my life, I experienced two wars. When I was eight, we have, Iran had another, war with Iraq. So on that time, I couldn't understand like this. I had a hard time, but as a kid, I couldn't understand what happened. I was exactly in the middle of, a bad situation, like war situation. But as a kid, I was happy and playing game and not even thinking about how serious that situation is. But this time it's comple- like totally changed my life. It's so hard for me because maybe I'm here, I cannot do anything for my like friend and people that I know. It's also I find it's not only about people. I have so many memories that I'm not sure if I go to Tehran again, I will see that restaurant, I will find that, street like before or not. I'm really oppose the war, and I'm not, yeah, I'm not good about war no matter where. And I remember this time, seven days after the war, I was in the middle of my setting, and I couldn't finish a route that normally I could, set maybe six routes. If I wanna set, I can set six routes in eight hours. After six hours, I was in the middle of, one auto-belay, very short route, and I couldn't, finish it. And, [Sean] : Be- because of emotions, or were you- [Parvin] : It, because of mentally [... you were just, fried?] I couldn't, focus on something because of the, yeah, emotionally, and I decided to stop checking news, stop, just think about war. And I have therapy, and he always told me in that situation, you need to do very physical activity. So I started to, running, mountain biking, climbing, and everything. Maybe I injured my finger because of, overtraining on that time. Yeah. Yeah. But it helps me a lot now because I cannot do anything. I can just, check the news- and nothing else [Sean] : Yeah, it's, I think it's depressing for all of us checking the news, to be honest, and I just can't imagine having, family in the places and love being impacted in that way. [Parvin] : So many people suffering from the war in these days. Yeah. [Sean] : Yeah. Hopefully we'll get, we'll get through all that. So just staying in Iran for a bit, so before you moved here, did you tell me you, you managed an outdoor shop or something like that, like a mountaineering- [Parvin] : Yeah, it's, [Sean] : store? [Parvin] : Yeah, I had a store- Yeah ... in Iran too. I decided to open a store, like a climbing, it's not climbing, just mountaineering, like gears- outdoor stuff. Yeah. And, but yeah, because of Iran's situation and sanction that we had, we couldn't import, have all stuff, and I push myself to stay and keep my business. I love that business a lot, but at the end, I find if I stay here, maybe I cannot cover that business next year. So I decided to try [- Financially, you mean?] Yeah, financially. Yeah. Like, all the problem in Iran is financially. [Sean] : Gotcha. [Parvin] : Yeah. [Sean] : So you started climbing, obviously, in Iran. When...how old were you when you started, and how did you get into that? ... [Parvin] : I was 18 years old when I started climbing in 1998, and I started with mountaineering in, Tehran. [Sean] : Oh, really? [Parvin] : And- When I was in the, in the mountaineering, I find a mountaineering club. It's, we have very fa- we have so many mountaineering club, but one of them is Damavand Club, it's a famous one. And, I ice climb with that club, and the coaches find me, I'm really reckless. And, he said, "You should to climb." Yeah, we have a federation and PSO cover all the, a trip to other cities for competition. [Sean] : Wow. [Parvin] : So- [Sean] : And are we talking indoor? Like you said you started ice climbing. [Parvin] : Sport climbing. Yeah, for like competition, it indoor com [- Inside?] Yeah. [Sean] : Okay. It's sport climbing. So pretty quickly you joined the mountaineering club, you got into ice climbing, and then they kinda caught you, you ... this reckless young woman, you should climb, and then you got on to competing in the gym. [Parvin] : Yeah. [Sean] : Okay. [Parvin] : And, I injured myself in that year, like in first year, so I didn't want too far from community, so I passed my judging course, and I started judging in competition. And I, think I have a good ability to manage, like crisis. So very fast they find me as a, JP, and I started being a jury president for almost lots of national competition in Iran very fast. And, also our federation helped me to go Malaysia, and I got my certificate for continental judging certificate. [Sean] : Okay. So you could go to any coun- different countries in Asia. [Parvin] : Yeah. It helps a lot to judge in, different competition. And also they helped me to have IFSC certification for judging. And yeah, I started judging because I was injured myself in mountain....in rock climbing. [Sean] : And did you compete as well yourself? [Parvin] : Yeah. I compete for- I can say I compete so many years, and always I try to be in the community. If I could judge, I judge. If I could setting, I was a route setter. If I coach, I like... Because always I ...for more than 20 years, I was in the middle of this community. In whole these years, I sometimes I was a competitor, sometimes I was like JP, sometimes like route setter, and yeah, coach. [Sean] : Just anything and everything. [Parvin] : Anything related to rock climbing. [Sean] : But did you.... I have the impression that you're quite a talented - or you are - quite a talented climber, and you probably did quite well in competitions. [Parvin] : I don't think I was talented. I climb a lot, and because of that, I think like I climb and compete so many times. And after maybe eight years, I was stay in the second, like place in competition twice or three times. I was one of a national Iranian team as a competitor too [- Wow] ... but not good result as a competitor. [Sean] : Wait, did you travel as a competitor outside of Iran? [Parvin] : In Iran, we had so many competition. For competition, I've never traveled as a competitor. But for judging or climbing in outdoor, yeah, all my travels are related to climbing. [Sean] : So when I was trying to research your history a little bit, I kinda looking around on the internet, and, I did find a couple of videos. I think it was you. They're kind of like grainy old videos. I'll, I'll, post links to them if people wanna check them out. But, some pretty steep overhanging sport climbing caves. [Parvin] : Yeah. [Sean] : Probably limestone, I'm guessing. But [- Yeah] ... at a 5.13 level, I would assume. [Parvin] : Yeah. I climb Albert's Route. It's 5.13A. It's very overhang one. [Sean] : Super steep. [Parvin] : I proud of myself because I'm [the] first woman that climb that one, and it's really- Nice for me because I know that route needs very, be very strong to climb, and all people that send it are very strong. But I climb that one very technical, and I... It's the best part of, climbing that one because I wasn't strong enough for that one, but I pass all this, like- [Sean] : Tricks [Parvin] : same tricks with, yeah, technique. [Sean] : Love it. [Parvin] : Yeah. And I climb another 13B, we call Bache Tehran, means the Kids of Tehran. [Sean] : Bache Tehran? [Parvin] : Yeah. And it's, very close to Tehran, too. We have a very famous cave. The name is Baraghan, and, it's, I love that cave, too. It's more about endurance than, power. It's the longest climb that I've done, like climb and climb and climb and yeah. I guess I was the first, yeah, women that climbed that one to Inura. [Sean] : Personally, I'm not very good at all on steep overhanging long routes like that. Is that a s- is that a strength of... Is that one of your strengths, do you think, like endurance? [Parvin] : I think it's more about technique things. Okay. And I started climbing with strong, very powerful people, mostly men, and, none of the beta... in that time, people show each other and share beta about how to climb, and none of them could help me to show me how to climb because I was very, short and very, weak. And it was kind of challenge for me, but a good challenge because push me to try to find my move. And because of that, I think always if people climb, they climb something like somewhere else, and I climb some like with different- Always different beta ... completely different, even hold different. Like always I'm a firm person in outside that I could fi- I can find a specific crimp or very hidden thing that I can use it and climb it. And like none of like strong people even find that like- [Sean] : Wouldn't even see it. [Parvin] : Yeah. [Sean] : That's super cool. [Parvin] : So it's more about reading and technique. I can say I'm not really as strong as ninety percent of that people that- [Sean] : Wow ... [Parvin] : - climb with me. [Sean] : Yeah. That's pretty cool. So, so being the... Well, how, high, are you? What's your height? [Parvin] : Me? [Sean] : How tall are you? Yeah. [Parvin] : I can say in centimeters, I'm one meter and 58 centimeter. That's like [Sean] : 5, 5 foot 4, 3, 2, somewhere in that area, [Parvin] : yeah. I can use my phone to convert. [Sean] : Probably pretty similar to Lynn Hill, I imagine. Do you think? [Parvin] : Maybe she's a bit taller than me. it's in my mind- [Sean] : Yeah [Parvin] : I guess. Yeah. [Sean] : But I think it sounds like you are always figuring out your own beta, so it helped you get creative and- [Parvin] : Yeah. Yeah, it helped a lot, and I'm so happy that, I started with that community, and they push me to be a good... It took so many years, not like... I remember I climb, one route, for climbing one route, 5.11b in, Band-e Akhjal. It took maybe three years to send it, to find all the bolts- Okay, that Yeah. [Sean] : So I bet consensus grade on the route perhaps was 11b, but probably for you climbing, your way- Yeah ... was probably like- [Parvin] : Finding my- ... [Sean] : 13c or something, right? [Parvin] : I believe 11b is 11b. [Sean] : Okay. [Parvin] : So I cannot say it's harder, but I could find my way to finish it, and, it helped me a lot in my, climbing life. It helped me to onsight better than... I remember when I was, climbing a lot outdoor I could onsight 12b, and it's so good for me ... because I think, because always climbing pushed me to think and find a new way, so it means always I'm onsighting and onsighting. So [ - So cool] ... yeah, it helped a lot. [Sean] : It's so fun, right? Like- Yeah ... Todd, I don't know. Have you listened to many of the podcast episodes? I did one with [Parvin] : Todd Foster. From last night, I start to listen- You started cramming ... some of them, but in Instagram, I start, the short form [ Oh, okay] ... slowly, but yeah. [Sean] : Well, get, into them. So, Todd and I were talking about kind of the fun of figuring out your own beta, and now - I don't know if you see this in or you hear people talking about it, but there's a lot of...people use, beta video, online videos of a, route or a boulder problem, and they, kind of have... They know what the beta is from looking at this video. But it takes away that creativity. It takes away the fun of, like- [Parvin] : Yeah ... [Sean] : unlocking something and finding, finding something that fits your body better, and a different little jib to put your toe on or something. [Parvin] : I learn to trust, to do, try whatever. Like- [Sean] : Nice ... [Parvin] : if I find some move is funny, it's not correct. After two, three weeks, I find I should try even that move, like that idea, and I try it and sometime it work. So I really would like to people try to find out routes with themselves, not anyone help them, because it's best part of rock climbing. [Sean] : I agree. That's awesome. [Parvin] : And I'm so happy that I'm in Nova Scotia and climbing outside because the rain always clean all the routes. [Sean] : All the chalk off? [Parvin] : Yeah. Best part of climbing here, because in my country- Yeah ... if people climb one route, always people can follow the chalk- Yeah, and climb. But I hate that- it's like indoor climbing. You have that hold- [Sean] : Totally. I know ... and you need [Parvin] : to... Yeah. [Sean] : I know. It's so, when I've traveled to some places, some sport climbing places particularly, you see that, right? Everything's all chalked up. You kind of know where the left hand's going and, all that stuff, and it's kind of...it pulls you in a little bit 'cause you're like, "Oh, I can see those moves." Yeah. But the downside is oftentimes they're all slimy, slimy, chalky holds for one, and yeah, it's not, the same experience as figuring something out yourself. [Parvin] : In Iran, in some outdoor climbing area, people clean all chalk spot to let people to onsight it because they believe if they keep the chalk [- Yeah] it's not help people to practice reading. [Sean] : So cool. Yeah. Yeah. This is... I don't know, I don't know how people climb these days or what... how they could do this practically, but to ask pe- ask their friends not to give them beta , Or don't, listen to the beta videos or try things. Like I lo- I love that, concept you just mentioned. I mean, I try to, apply that in a lot of things in life. Like you're not sure of something? Try it. This might be stupid, but you don't know unless you try it. [Parvin] : Yeah. It's... I hope- I, yeah, it's changed a lot these days. People expecting, finding or solving all hard thing very fast becau- maybe because of, lifestyle not let people to put time for, small thing. They need to solve it so fast. But I, yeah, for me, the best part of climbing is finding how to solve it. And always, I had so many kids in Iran, like I, as a coach, I had so many kids, and always I mention it's the best, sport for these kids because in hard situation, they supposed to solve the, so many problems, and they will be, like, very, like Good adult in future. They can solve lots of big, like- I like it ... problem very fast. [Sean] : So you're, making a parallel between problem-solving in a rock climbing situation- Yeah ... and perseverance- [Parvin] : I think [Sean] : rock climb- ... to applying that in all aspects of our lives. [Parvin] : For me, it helped a lot. [Sean] : yeah. [Parvin] : Yeah. [Sean] : I could see that. [Parvin] : Yeah. I remember I solve problem in the middle of the rock and ask my kids to solve it and add extra problem for them to think more, like for kids under six years or like seven year. [Sean] : Yeah. [Parvin] : And yeah, it's a, it's fun part of rock climb. I think rock climbing is... All the sports are good, but about rock climbing, it's all the muscles and mind works together. It's not only like a physical activity. It's emotional, physical, mental, and all happen together. If it makes sense what I'm saying? [Sean] : Yeah, I think so. But, and you're saying that's unique 'cause you do a lot of different sports, right? Like we talked about mountain biking. [Parvin] : I've tried so many, yeah. [Sean] : you're probably a skier, snowboarder, these sorts of things. [Parvin] : I run, swim, play lots of like basketball, volleyball, tennis- Yeah ... badminton, paraglidering. [Paragliding? Yeah. Wow, cool. ] But I keep rock climbing always, because I find it different for me. It's, it's teach me so many things in my life. It make me very strong. It shows me I should to be like... I remember I project and I push myself to finish project. So that project show me if I wait and, work on everything, I can f- reach to that thing. Yeah. So yeah, it's, it changed my life really. Like, when I started climbing, it's changed my life. [Sean] : How so? [Parvin] : So, for example, I, in the middle of com- like when I was a competitor, always the route setter was men, and they never could watch us. So always I nagging about I couldn't reach that move and you guys don't know what you are doing. I like always the short people nagging after they come. So I think I started to change even, the competition route. I started to be a route setter and set routes for other women to not have the same problem. So I find it helps me a lot to not only watch the problem. I- it shows me if you are watching any problem, try to find a way to solve it. I think I learned that thing from rock climbing. [Sean] : So you said in the beginning you were nagging the men for creating longer routes, but are you saying you stopped nagging and tried to figure out those routes- Yeah ... as they were? [Parvin] : No, like- Or, or- ... for future, for like in, in my journey, I started to not only nagging and watching the problem. Climbing showed me, okay, it's a problem always. You will find so many problem in your life, so you can watch and pass or you can try to, send it and finish it. So... And I believe, climbing makes people a little bit like, strong because after each sending, it's a feeling like you are strong and you try to send a harder one. And after... for me, it's like when I started any project, first day I told myself it's impossible, and then I try to find all the details and try all the details and then climb it. And it's a really nice feeling that people, after working hard and achieving the goal, will find it. So I believe in normal life, maybe we have, some goals like going university or like some small goals, but rock climbers every day have so many goals like sending that one, sending this one, or like project- [Sean] : Super cool. Or even just a single move, right? Yeah. Yeah. Figuring out that one move. [Parvin] : Yeah. E- each one is kind of a goal for me, and- [Sean] : That's cool. [Parvin] : Yeah. [Sean] : Kind of a dopamine hit to the brain, It sounded like you were saying people aren't... They don't wanna take the time to work things out on their own to eventually learn how to do it. They just wanna do it quickly. [Parvin] : Yeah. I wanna say I compare new generation of climbers to old generation. I remember like so many of my students before wanted me to help them to solve the... show them how to climb. And it's maybe very easy for, coach or setters to just show them the move. But yeah, I, think it's better they find that thing by themselves. It will be very helpful. Sometimes in, in my class, I just mention if you are in a competition, you won't have any coaches with yourself, so you need to solve it alone, so it's a good time to practice how to solve. But the point is always physical activity is easier for people than mental activity. And so it's hard for people. I know climbing is hard, but if I ask people to climb and, or think about climb, ninety percent will pick climbing than thinking about how to climb. Yeah. It's a bit tricky for people To think about routes and think about how they can read it and then climb it. [Sean] : Okay, so let's expand on that a bit. So you're saying, people tend-- people want to just jump on it and climb it perhaps rather than take the time to study the climb- Yeah ... and, visualize the solution- Yeah ... in their mind? Okay. [Parvin] : It's, it takes time and hard for everyone [Sean] : to- And practice. You gotta practice- And practice. Yeah ... practice that. Yeah. That, muscle, the brain muscle. [Parvin] : It's harder than really, like real muscles. [Sean] : That's weird, eh? [Parvin] : I heard somewhere, in competitors, like maybe on if we wanna say the first 10 top climbers in competition, what's a big different between that 10? Most of the time it's not any physical thing. Yeah. It's more mental thing. [Sean] : Totally. [Parvin] : So I, yeah, I believe physical part of climbing is easier to accept than mental part of climbing. [Sean] : Super interesting. Yeah. So how do you train the mental side of it then? Is this just something people are naturally ha- have a strength in that area, or is that something we can train? [Parvin] : I think they need more like a good coach for mental training. I like, I don't think people like, just like coaches cannot help. For myself, it's just like my mental stor- mental training or mental practice Started with like my outdoor climbing because when I was on the rock, always I had so many people that, watching me and try to help me and show me right hand up, left foot right. I don't know, all of them try to help me. But I started to practice to not listen any sound. And I remember after maybe five years, when I clipped the first like quickdraw, suddenly it's like a sound that stop everything from others, like- [Sean] : Nice ... [Parvin] : it's like I'm in the r- .. I'm on the wall and I'm just thinking about, okay, what's the next move? Where am I? What are you doing? Are you like clipping? Are you doing that technique correct? And it's the best part of like mental training that I find, okay, I cannot hear anything. [Sean] : So cool. [Parvin] : Yeah, it's, I, think the challenges in my country push me to be a very strong like mental, mentally train hard. Like even in competition I... Now I cannot I think do that, but before I remember I couldn't hear s- I decided to hear who's like path. [Sean] : You just blocked it all out. Yeah. It's kinda like a white noise sort of thing. [Parvin] : And it's kind of very nice time for everyone to focus on one thing without, anything else- [Sean] : Yeah [Parvin] : can bother you. [Sean] : Get in the zone. You kind of mentioned in passing there that you talked about climbing routes that were, that had mostly been set by men- Yeah ... and that they couldn't watch you climb those routes. And before we, turned the tape on here, you mentioned that men and women could not climb in the same gym at the same time, that you would have to have shifts, which is kind of... It's hard to register here. [Parvin] : Nowadays, I think everything change in Iran. I'm sure, most of these things change, but not complete- I, can't imagine women and men can swim in pool together. The majority of Iran are Muslim. Yeah. So in Muslim, we have a hijab, like special dressing, codes. Yeah. So because of that, I remember we were very, they were very strict in 1980 when, I was climbing and, competing. But nowadays, it's really better. Even when I, left, when I move here, I climb in so many spot only with a headband and a T-shirt- Oh, perfect ... nothing else. [Sean] : Yeah, [Parvin] : And I believe none of these thing, people don't need any of these thing these days, and they can climb without any hijab these days. But that days, yeah, was different rules, law- laws for climbing. But the funny part is we always, had a competition with the men route setters for women, and they even couldn't watch us as a climber. So they set competition routes for people that never can, watch them. And after each routes, it was so funny, all the, like- So many of us start to nagging and asking please not do the same thing for next competition. [Sean] : But they would never see what you were- Yeah, the problems you were having, so they couldn't know. [Parvin] : Yeah. So it's one of my reason that I started even route setting in Iran. [Sean] : Okay. So all this segregation that you're describing, did that just seem normal growing up? I guess you wouldn't have known anything different as a younger girl in that environment, or did it seem weird? [Parvin] : For us it was very normal Yeah. Normal, because we grow, in that- [Sean] : Yeah ... [Parvin] : like- It's just the way it was ... all the family, like all the people, community are kind of Muslim and it's not the... It's every country, every city has some rules, and I accepted all these things as the rules and yeah, it was, kind of normal. I know lots of women Didn't like that rules, but that one never bothered me a lot because it's okay, I'm should to climb like this. It's my gym. It's my, facility. I should to accept all that rule before I start climbing. [Sean] : Okay, so you respected the rules- Yeah ... of the environment you were in. but outs- when you're outside, you could climb with men, yes? [Parvin] : Yeah, always we could climb with men. But not inside? Inside... no. these days inside, I know even in competition now I see men and women climb together with a small part of hijab for women. [Okay. Okay, so it's changed.] It's changed a lot, yeah ... everything change a lot these days. Yeah. But many years ago, yeah, it was, like they were very strict about hijab. [Sean] : So, it sounds like that, was the culture, that- Yeah ... that's how it was, so it's kinda normal and those were the, rules or whatever. Did you th- did you find that isolation or segregation, did that hold you back or you and your other female friends, did that hold you back in some way or n- no effect? [Parvin] : I think for sure it affect us, but different way. I know women in Iran cannot... we have so many, laws that are limited that not let, women do their thing, but women character change in Iran, I think. There are very, there are fighter. They try to not accept these, limits, and they push hard. They are very hard worker. I think it helps, Iranian people, Iranian women to be very strong. Sometime was challenging, but I think in a, I can say in a good way, it helps me to be maybe stronger. [Sean] : All Iranian women, in a way, having an inner strength or [- Fighter] I don't know, a, fi- a fighter in them, [Parvin] : Yeah. Yeah, I can say fighter in them, yeah. [Sean] : That's, that's cool. So how would you... like, when you see the women and girls at the gym, is there a .... is there a need to put extra effort into supporting young girls at East Peak to climb better or provide them with more opportunities to compete or to go outside or even just get into it in the sport, or is there no real barriers? [Parvin] : I couldn't see any different between girls and boys here. Yeah, so- I like it like kids are kids no matter there are, like, girls or boys. Compare with my country, I can say because maybe girls are, like, limited a bit. Most of, people, family, or community try to support girls more than boys. [Sean] : Back home. [Parvin] : Back home, yeah. Because of, they know they need more support, and I can say, even I grow in Iran with my community support a lot. Even I can say my, federation helps me to be a successful woman in Iran, or my family maybe support me a bit more than maybe my brothers because they think about I will find so many problem in future. They need to make me very strong and fighter to can like fight with that situation. So around me I find women are really successful compared with men because family thinks boys always can find their life without any problem in Iran. But they try to start, like- girls are stronger to fight maybe in, yeah, in whole their life [Sean] : That's awesome. That's- [Parvin] : It's a bit different. It's always for me the big question, why these women in hard situation are very stronger, not like powerless? Because people expect women in that situation supposed to be like powerless. [Sean] : Yeah. [Parvin] : But I believe it's- [Sean] : It's the inverse ... [Parvin] : Yeah, it's like hard situation help them to be a stronger fighter and- [Sean] : This is, this is so re- It's nice to hear this, [Parvin] : It's my experience. Yeah. I remember always in like first year or second years that I came here, some people said, "Okay, you are free. You came from like Iran. Now you are free." [[ Yeah, "Welcome to the free world!"] . And I said, "I'm like free." And I like, I had ..... I had a good experience in my country. I did whatever I want. I was like successful like a women in my country, and I know so many successful... because they never accept limits to stop them. They push to pass all limits and- [Sean] : Yeah ... [Parvin] : Yeah, it's a bit different. [Sean] : That's cool. Yeah. That's cool. That, that, that's not, Yeah, that's not really the stereotype that I think people have in their minds of women in a Muslim country. [Parvin] : I think it's media change all this even I, when I was in Iran, I never listened like news and media a lot. But as long as I'm here, I try. I have the time to listen, and I find It's not correct really, like- [Sean] : Interesting ... [Parvin] : Yeah, sometimes I wanna say, "No- [Sean] : That's not the way it is ... [Parvin] : I came from that country. I can't believe that thing. But it's politic. I think it's, As a person that's live in Tehran for 40 years, in Iran, people can do... I know, we have so many laws, like not drinking alcoholic or not having party together. But I can say people can do everything at their home. we have our, like a gym, rock cl- home gym, home climbing. And we can climb with each other, but maybe we cannot, climb in really big gyms. The men and women cannot climb together. But yeah, people- [Sean] : Well, you were telling me when, you first came up here, and you, we looked up the ice box here together, and it sounded like it reminded you a little bit of your home wall- [Yeah] which is- [Parvin] : Yeah, it's- ... [Sean] : maybe what you're talking about right now, quite large. What would you say? maybe four or five times bigger in area than, my little gym here. You would do coaching and - [Yeah] ... parties there and stuff. [Parvin] : I, it's not make sense, but I try to find a home. In Tehran is really big. It's........ space is.. like having a big home - it's a lot. It's very expensive. So I try to find the apartment in the middle of the city, like very, a very good part. [Sean] : Central, yeah. [Parvin] : But I rent that apartment only for- [Sean] : Just for the climbing wall? ... [Parvin] : climbing wall. And it was [ - Cool] ... so, it was big. And I remember every two hours, we had so many people. We'd coach at different coaches. This home gym was so busy up to COVID time. [Sean] : That's amazing. [Yeah. And then-] So did, so you never slept there. It was just- [No] ... the climbing wall. [Parvin] : Yeah. [Sean] : That's awesome. [Parvin] : Yeah. [Sean] : What was I thinking of be-? So.... you're the head setter at East Peak, and I hear many people, and my experience on your routes, the routes in the gym and on your routes that you've set, are s- super engaging, super interesting to climb. They're I've heard people say that they're like, they're agnostic to a person's height If you know what I'm saying. It seems like you set routes, or maybe you and your team set routes that aren't biased towards a six-foot-tall man with a big reach. And somehow you can create routes that maybe climb at a very similar difficulty no matter what your height is. [Parvin] : Yeah, I try. [Sean] : Is that-- That's, kind of a focus, yeah. [Parvin] : It's my goal for all my routes. Yeah, I try to create a route that people, no matter short or tall, can try it Or always they can, find something to like outdoor, maybe help them to pass the move. But I'm happy that you mentioned that people said about the routes like this. [Definitely.] I'm so happy. [Sean] : Yeah, yeah. [Parvin] : But it's funny, I remember first year of setting in at East Peak, I set 5.8, but with a slopey hold, and I think I made so many people angry because.... I believe route setter are kind of coaches in the gym. They can teach so many movement and technique to people. [Sean] : Without them even realizing it. [Parvin] : Without, yeah. The point is I believe route setter is supposed to not share the beta, and it's so hard for me as a route setter to watch people that are struggling and trying to find move. [Sean] : Yeah. [Parvin] : But if I just let them do that, they will pass it. But it's hard to not share that beta. But I think it's good for... Yeah, I think setter's important task is see what people needs to learn and give that thing at the routes to them and ask them to practice. And it's a bit different because when, any climber find that technique with themself, never will forget it. [Sean] : That's like any lesson in life really, right? [Parvin] : Yeah. Real- [Sean] : If you learn it yourself, you go through that. Yeah. Yeah. That's super cool. You sound like an awesome coach. [Parvin] : You should ask, my student that. [Sean] : Your students. Do you have...how does that work? Do you have a team or something? Are you coaching a team? [Parvin] : I'm working, I have a development team. Okay. As, as a coach, I work with development team. I work with "Alpine Start" under six years old. And I- [Sean] : What did you call it? Alpine Start? [Parvin] : Yeah. They are, like, under six years old kid with family. [Sean] : Alpine Start. [Parvin] : And I really love to keep this, under six years old because I think it's the first step for climbing. If they love climbing- Yeah ... in this age, they will keep going and they can be very, a good- athlete with good yeah, athlete. [Sean] : Yeah. [Parvin] : So I love both. [Sean] : Yeah. That's cool, and I guess sounds like your philosophy of coaching, you're probably not, you're not telling these six-year-olds, "Put your left foot here and grab the right crimp with your-" [Parvin] : We are just playing games. They're just playing. Yeah. Yeah. It's, Yeah ... I had so many kids, in my first gyms that I started, and I love working with kids because they don't have any idea about what's the hard move or what's the easy move or why people doing. So it helps them to... I remember I put some like empty papers and asked them put like a colorful, pens in their pocket hold and asked them to find paint, paint and try to paint the- [Sean] : Oh, neat ... [Parvin] : like a... some yeah, paper on the wall. [Sean] : While they're holding onto the wall. [Parvin] : They find a very nice technique to sit on the hold [- Oh] or knee jam or finding something [- Brilliant] ... some move to free one hand and start to painting. And I find they can- [So they can clip the bolt.] Yeah. Awesome for like empty mind. Oh, [Sean] : I like it. [Parvin] : Yeah. It's... I love to have that kid, have a class with that kid. [Sean] : That's fun. Any older climbers that you're coaching? [Parvin] : Older one is, yeah, we have a class, it's about how to train, on Sunday morning. And I have a "Reach Your Peak" class too. It's like all adults. [Sean] : Adults? Okay. Neat. How do you, coach- And, these are experienced adults, I'm guessing? [Yeah. Yeah.] Kind of experienced adults. probably a number of p- people I know, maybe. Yeah, I think you- Maybe. Yeah ... maybe know. And how do you approach, coaching that kind of level of group? [Parvin] : I like, I wanna just show them how they can train and also yeah, sometimes about like we have a-- we show them some techniques that they can use and, it's more about how depends on what they need. We can have a session, but more about training, like what's endurance training, what's power training, how you can plan or schedule for yourself to train well. It's, yeah. The first thing's how they can find what they need to train. Okay. It's, I think, hardest part for all the climbers to see what they need because if I wanna work on my weakness, I have hundred weakness, so which one is [- What's the worst of the worst?] on priority? [Sean] : Yeah. [Parvin] : So it's important, for example, if I have any project or if I have a climb that I would like to finish it, I should find my weakness on that one, not on like whole my weakness. So- Yeah ... make it a smaller- One thing at a time ... and try to, yeah. I find, yeah, working on less things is important to foc-- focus on one training, one specific drills will more helpful than focusing on all weak... I think when I wanna see whole my weakness, I cannot do anything. I will say, "Okay, I cannot -[ Yeah.]... I will stop." [Sean] : Yeah, you're just overwhelmed- Yeah ... and you, think you suck or whatever. Do you find there's common things that people are weak, at? What are the things most commonly that people- [Parvin] : Here or general? [Sean] : Yeah, h- the people that you're seeing here in this community. [Parvin] : I can say they should trust their themselves to find a move. Always, people have a different weakness and, a strong Part. So I believe people should let themselves to try different things and, trust themself, trust their body more than let their body find the move, not try to find the, like move from other climbs. [Sean] : I like that, yeah. [Parvin] : Yeah. I think it's important to show people that you... I have a favorite sentence that always, before I told my, kids in outside, "Imagine you are in the middle of the big wall, you cannot cl- Go down, you should to finish it. It no matter how. Push yourself and you can and just... Because I had the experience when I was in the middle of, seven pitches, I should to just finish it. I cannot say, "Okay, I got stuck here. I cannot. Please someone help me." No one will help you. Just push yourself and trust yourself. And it's the thing that I think people really, no matter how strong, no matter how tall, short, I think depends on their body. they can find, the way. They can solve it. [Sean] : Super cool. So believing that, well, down, going down is not an option. You have- [Parvin] : You should to go up, yeah [Sean] : The goal is to go up [- If you pick beta- ] and you will find a way. Trust yourself to find a way. Yeah. Something that came to my mind when you were kind of saying, trust yourself to find things, a piece of advice, I can't remember where I got it from, but a crux on a route. There's perhaps some obvious holds or options, and it's okay, well, I gotta use... I gotta put my feet on those holds, 'cause that's the holds. But it's really helpful to not worry about where those holds are and just let your f- let your foot go where it wants to go. [Parvin] : Exactly. [Sean] : And then, you might find out that's where, that's... I mean, it might be not even a hold, a whisper of a hold or something, but that's the one you need. Exactly. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Like that trusting yourself part. [Parvin] : Yeah, it's let your body find it. Yeah. Not like... Yeah, I find so many time people not let their body go for it, and they try to just repeat some move that they know, and I believe outdoor climbing will help a lot- [Sean] : Yeah, 'cause it's not so ... paint by number-y. Yeah. It's a fun sport, eh? It's- [Parvin] : It's really fun ... [Sean] : it's fun to think about these little things. or not to think about them... that's, just let your body and in- intuitive nature find things. [Parvin] : I used to have a project before, and I pick, a project in other city. So for example, I live in Tehran, I have a project in Kermanshah, and every maybe three month, I just go there and try my project, and it was so weird. I had a dream about my project a lot to solve it, or I had a, like, when I was driving, suddenly I find myself with, very low speed and, just thinking about climbing. Kind of not safe thing. [Sean] : Yeah. [Parvin] : But yeah, it's, It's, yeah, was fun for me, remember that project thingy. [Sean] : Yeah. Yeah, it's all-consuming. It can keep you up at night- ... I find. If, you're thinking too much about... I don't know if you're, like this, but if I fall asleep, if I have a project of whatever it is, I kinda like visualizing it in my mind. But then if I do that when I'm lying down in bed, well, then I can't sleep. [Parvin] : Yeah, I know. [Sean] : Do, are you, do you like... Are you like that? [Parvin] : I, yeah. [Sean] : But you, know you're not gonna fall asleep if you start thinking about this route, but you want to 'cause it's fun, and then, you don't sleep. [Parvin] : Yeah. [Sean] : That's me, anyway. [Parvin] : Yeah. I think projecting is a really important part of climbing. If people, no matter which grade they are, start projecting, it helps them to climb better and, see. [Sean] : Yeah, totally. Can you speak... you mentioned, and I thought this was pretty interesting, that the, I don't know, the culture in the gyms here, or at least at East Peak, and maybe it's all the region, I don't know, but, kinda fun and social, and, climbing's part of it, but not super driven, and no, no big projects or they're not, really pushing their own levels. Is that- [Parvin] : There are pushing- [Sean] : There, there's gotta be some. I [- Yeah] ... I know there are some. [Parvin] : I'm sure we have so many good climber that pushing themselves. But I just compare with my other gyms. I just... When I enter a climbing gym in most of the countries, I can say people are, like, pushing hard, screaming, or, like- I don't know how can I describe that situation, but- [Sean] : They're yelling. They're, [Parvin] : - it's completely different with like yoga classes. You can compare rock climbing, a rock climbing gym and yoga classes. [Oh, yoga classes.] How- Yeah. Yoga, yeah. Yeah. How people face are in that two different gyms. [Sean] : Okay. Okay. [Parvin] : So I remember even in my old gym, people are like, climb to show off [- Yeah] the muscles or, I have a six-pack, I have [- Oh, God. Yeah] ... that muscle. It's kind of- [Sean] : And then you walk up and you send their route easily, right? [Parvin] : Yeah, and I... yeah., but in East Peak, I can't find if- [Sean] : Those, well, this is a good thing. I don't... those characters aren't that...fun. [Parvin] : Yeah, we have so many different climbers at gym. I'm sure we have very, competitive peoples, but I can say most of the community are not competitive. And they are like climbing because of doing activity, fun activity, and always they have a friend to be around and climb together. [Sean] : Have you noticed the level of, people's climbing ability in the gym? Has it been increasing in general? Like the... I mean, East Peak is an awesome facility, I think, tons of great routes, high-quality routes. They're changing regularly, so you've always got new challenges. Do you see an improvement in the community in general? [Parvin] : I remem- I know some people that when I started working at East Peak, I saw their level, and always I'm, like- pushing...checking these guys, and I see, okay, if they climb 10 minus on that year, really I can say some of them now climbing, can sending 12 minus, 12 plus. [Sean] : Nice, nice. [Parvin] : And it's really good for, three years, I guess. And I know most of people here are not, doing so many drills for climbing. They are just climbing. Like they are climbing, not training. It's the other way, because training is different. [Sean] : Yeah. You know what? I wonder if this is a difference between our route climbing community and the bouldering community because, once you catch up to the podcast and you hear different people's conversations, a lot of people are doing those extra drills and weights and training outside, and may- maybe that's more so the bouldering crew, 'cause that crew is very strong, I've noticed. [Parvin] : Yeah, I know we have so many strong, crew, but we have strong crew even at East Peak. I know one of the customer every week climb..... Whenever I set any 13 minus, 13 plus, this guy, send it. [Sean] : Who is this guy? Will? [Parvin] : I depend on my shift. Oh. I know, Shane. [Sean] : Shane. [Parvin] : Yeah. Oh, yeah. Murphy? [Sean] : Shane Murphy. [Parvin] : He's, really hard work- [Sean] : Yeah ... [Parvin] : worker climber. I haven't seen, him doing any other drill, like campus thing, pull-upping, finger training, or other thing, but- [Sean] : He's, going after it [Parvin] : ... he is strong, and he's really hardworking. Yeah, he is. Yeah. And he pri- He's in there a lot ... always he has a project, and he's projecting, all the hard stuff, like 13 minus, 13 plus, no matter [Sean] : Super cool. Yeah. Yeah, so it's, Shane and Meagan are, climbed together, right? [Parvin] : Yeah. [Sean] : Those guys started at the old Ground Zero gym a long time ago. Okay. So they're probably some of the earl- They've been climbing in this area for a long time. For sure. Although I think they both took a bunch of time off. Shane was into golf for a long time, of all things. [Parvin] : Oh, I don't know. [Sean] : yeah. Yeah. So I've seen him, I've seen him at East Peak every time I've gone, he's there. [Parvin] : Nice, [Sean] : yeah. and he is crushing for sure, so. [Parvin] : Yeah. [Sean] : Yeah. That's pretty cool. were you a sponsored climber? [Parvin] : I never had any sponsor because in Iran, in TV, women have a specific dressing code. LIke, sponsorship is not good in Iran for women. [Sean] : Okay. But you traveled a fair bit with your climbing, right? [Parvin] : I traveled to, Thailand, Croatia, Turkey, yeah. [Sean] : I saw... I think I saw it on your Facebook feed somewhere. It looked like you had made a trip to Greece to climb at Meteora? [Parvin] : Meteora. Meteora. With rock trip, yeah. Rock trip with, Petzl company in- [Sean] : Oh, I was gonna ask you about that. Yeah. I saw, a bit of a video. [Parvin] : 2014. Yeah. It's, my, best rock trip that I had. Really? It's because, I climb with so many, different climbers, strong- [Sean] : I heard Chris, Chris Sharma was there, I think. [Parvin] : Yeah. Yeah, Chris Sharma was in... Yeah, I remember that day. [Sean] : So you were a Petzl...You weren't sponsored, but you were a part of that team or something? [Parvin] : Or how- So I sponsored by, Petzl company from Iran. [Sean] : Okay, so you were sponsored. [Parvin] : They... Yeah, It's, yeah, it's the only sponsorship that I got. Okay. [Sean] : Well, that's good. [Parvin] : Yeah, it's... And they paid, most of our trip price, and I was the only girl on this rock trip that they help us, but they sponsorship another, man that we... yeah, we went to that rock trip. It's 40 days of climbing- Oh ... in so many different, climbing spot. So Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, yeah. [Sean] : So tell me about Meteora because, I mean it's a tremendously historic- Yeah ... climbing place. If, [Parvin] : but- [Sean] : It's- they're big walls, right? Yeah, it's really big wall. There's like 1,000-foot or so walls. [Parvin] : Very nice spot. And- [Sean] : But those routes have a reputation for being very bold. The bolts are quite stretched out. [Parvin] : I felt very safe- [Did you? Okay] ... climber, yeah. [Sean] : Okay. [Parvin] : Yeah, compared with some spot that I climb, I can say I never remember any not like. All bolting was safe there for me. [Sean] : In... at Meteora? [Parvin] : In the routes that we tried. [Sean] : But, not back home in Iran? [Parvin] : Back home, we have fortunately so many team that working on routes, but I remember I had a trip to Kermanshah. We have very famous Big wall in Kermanshah, we call Bisotun. It's like a very, big rock climbing area. People can lose themselves after 18 pitch climbing. Oh. But- [Sean] : I, well, I wanted to ask you about this and the... And I recognize the name, not from climbing, but from his- historical- [Parvin] : Yeah, it's really historical place. So we have so many spot in Bisotun that climber cannot climb because of the- [Sean] : The carvings or the, [Parvin] : Yeah, it- [Sean] : Yeah, I gotta look this up....it's so freaking cool ... [Parvin] : I know we have very good rock climbers from Kermanshah and Bisotun. They are very strong and brave. And so I remember I climb very famous routes. I don't know now they rebolted or not, but I remember if I like... Yeah, in some of route, if I fall, I can say just not fall and keep climbing because the bolting wasn't good or enough bolt on the wall, so- [Sean] : You can... falling is not an option ... [Parvin] : Yeah, my belayer always said, "Okay, just keep going. No worry, I got you," and I just keep climbing. But at that night, I told, my belayer, "You know that if I fall, you never could catch me." And he said, "Yeah, I'm sure, but the only thing that I could do is just push you to not fall- ... and I just ask you, keep going, keep climbing, please." "You got that." And I had the- [Sean] : He was supporting by like pushing you up into the void. yeah. [Parvin] : Because as a belayer, he couldn't do anything. But every night, I had eight night on that place for climbing first time, and every night I thought it [was] my last night of life. [Sean] : Oh. [Parvin] : it's so weird why I did that, but I remember- [Sean] : That's frightening [Parvin] : yeah, every night I told myself, "Maybe tomorrow you are not alive." And I, climb again and it- [Sean] : And these are, bolted, quote-unquote, "sport routes." So, what were kind of the distances between bolts on that, wall? [Parvin] : Not all of them. Some of them like the first one may be like 3 meters for the first one. The second one suddenly like four meters. And like some spot I couldn't fo- [10 feet, 12 feet between bolts.] Yeah, it means like just fall and you will touch [Sean] : the ground. [Parvin] : Yeah, it's like a bouldering, but high bouldering. [Sean] : Yeah. [Parvin] : But I will climb again there if I come back Iran. I love to climb in this spot. It's really nice, like festival that I had for two times. [Sean] : And each time you think you're gonna die the next day?! [Parvin] : The first time, because I was a beginner and I was not really trying to manage everything by myself, I just trust the guide and keep going. But second times, I remember like I bolting a new route in Kermanshah with one of my friend. So my friend Maryam and I put the first sec two multi-pitch routes there, like bolting there, and we wanted to show, okay, we like, we can bolt because I started like bolting in Iran on that time, and I did a course with our federation for rebolting and checking bolt, and it's... I did some bolting, but one of the routes, is in Kermanshah. [Sean] : So it was a multi-pitch route that you guys- [Parvin] : Two. [Sean] : Two pitches? [Parvin] : Two pitches, yeah, not ro- [Sean] : And you and a friend bolted it? [Parvin] : Together, yes. It's a kinda very sporty route, so I try to find, a best spot for bolting and yeah. [Sean] : Very cool. Is historical stuff everywhere- [Parvin] : Yeah ... [Sean] : back home? [Parvin] : Yeah. The point is, Kermanshah is only one city. If you go Isfahan, Shiraz... I'm very foodie, I mentioned. So because, in Iranian people, for thousand years experience, find that recipe for food. So you can imagine, yeah. [Sean] : It's perfect by this point. [Parvin] : Kermanshah have very good sweets, and also kebab is really famous in Kermanshah. yeah. [Sean] : Oh, well one question. I was sort of leading it a little bit, but that Behistun place with pretty stretched out long falls between the bolts, you mentioned, three or four meters. At East Peak you can lead climb, but by necessity in a gym the bolts are, like, every three feet or something, [Parvin] : Yeah. [Sean] : So it probably a bit of a rude awakening when people get used to lead climbing there and then they go outside where perhaps it's a little bit more spaced. how do you find... How do you advise them that this is not the way you're gonna find it outside? [Parvin] : Yeah, I, can say, in climbing, indoor and outdoor are different. Indoor, the point is to find the safest spot for a climber, try to practice leading, falling, climbing. But outside it's not really, even with the good bolting, outdoor is outdoor. Some things happen, so many thing maybe happen, so it's not on people control. It's on outdoor control. So- [Sean] : It's out of control! [Parvin] : Yeah, it's out of control sometimes. For big wall I can say, yeah, we have so many big wall and the weather, the rock fall, drop like a big part of rock, and these things always happen. But I think even at East Peak, Ben and Jackie tried hard to grade routes more like outdoor. Or, I know always Ben try to show them it's indoor, outdoor maybe, it's a different. So people- [They're prepared-] supposed to know- [... preparing them a little bit ]... to have a different- [Sean] : Expectation ... [Parvin] : Yeah. Yeah ... in outdoor. [Sean] : What are some of your favorite memories, if you think back on your climbing career? What's... and maybe you've talked about them. You've talked about some pretty proud sends, those 5.13s and putting up routes at the Behistun Wall and... [Parvin] : Maybe it's not good, but I remember I send the hardest routes when I had so many big trouble in my life. I had so many hard time, and climbing helped me to pass that hard time. So I think if that hard situation didn't happen, I never ever could- [Sean] : You would never have climbed that hard ... [Parvin] : send none of these 5.13 routes outside. So I proud of myself, but I was on very hard situation on that three years that I did. So I cannot say it's like a best part. [Sean] : A nice... It's not a nice... It's ki- yeah, it's a bittersweet... That's interesting. [Parvin] : Yeah, it's... I can say never... My hardest three years in whole my life, it's, yeah, exactly that three years were the hardest time. [Sean] : Right. [Parvin] : I find very bad situation. I push myself to do very physical activity, train hard. So that climb remind me training, maybe 10 hours a day. Oh my God. For, for... So for, that years, I ran maybe 45 minutes kind of four day the week. I went outside for climbing at least three time the week. I climb and drill, had so many hard, like campusing and training hard, like maybe twice a week. [Wow, all of that.] So it means I did... I never, ever can repeat it in normal situation. [Sean] : And that helps you, helped you deal with that difficult situation. And, I think you mentioned earlier that you're, you- you're realizing that's helping you now deal with the- Yeah, I- ... the stress and the troubles back home- Yeah and that, your family's dealing with. [Parvin] : I hope never people wanna climb because of passing hard situation. But climbing, rock climbing helped me to pass my hardest time of my life. Yeah. Even now I try to, be more active than normal time because it helps me to not think, not have stress a lot. [Sean] : Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think you hear a lot of people talk about climbing and other sports, but in particular climbing, helping sustain a healthy mind. [Parvin] : It's like meditation. When people start to climb, they focus on one thing, and they can just stop thinking about other troubles, so it helps them to focus on one thing. I know so many sport can do the same thing. Yeah. But for me, climbing is more fun than running and swimming. When I'm climbing or I have a projecting, up to finishing that project, my mind is working every second. I'm trying to think about... It's like a pill that when I need, I start to think about my project instead of my troubles. So for me- That's cool ... I find, I pick project and I try to work on project like this, every time I try to find, one project and make my mind, busy with that project. So if I wanted to not think about bad things, like troubles, I switch to my project. So it was fun, and it helps me to... So I, can say, okay, it's mentally, but because of reaching that goal, I should to train hard, too. So yeah, it's works like this. [Sean] : That's a really cool concept. And you spoke to this earlier. You said you think projecting is really important, One, for developing skills in climbing and learning how your body works and all that stuff. But it sounds like you're saying it's good to have, always have a project on the side to occupy your mind whenever you need it to, take some medicine, [Parvin] : Yeah, it's a- [Sean] : That's really cool. [Parvin] : Yeah. Even... It's like a puzzle. When you don't want to think, you can start, making a puzzle, and you are focusing on solving that one and suddenly you will forget everything. [Sean] : Awesome. Well, thank you Parvin for coming in. This was really, lovely to chat with you. We've had a couple quick conversations at the gym, and I always see you there smiling. You seem like such a happy person ..... awesome! [Parvin] : Thank you. [Sean] : Thank you. [Parvin] : A lot. [Sean] : Thanks Parvin! So great to chat with you. All the best to you and your family back home. As usual, thank you to Climb Nova Scotia for supporting the podcast, along with East Peak Climbing, Seven Bays Bouldering, and Unfiltered Brewing. Catch y'all later. [Parvin] : Really, I wanted to know why you picked me, because I've seen all people are from Nova Scotia, famous climbers around here.... I came three, four years ago. [Sean] : Yeah. But the idea behind this thing for me is kind of meet and hear stories about people that are in the climbing community. I mean, you've got a very interesting story to tell, and I was keen to hear about it. [Parvin] : Thank you. [Sean] : So you are .... you're a part of the community, whether you like it or not. [Parvin] : Thank you.