Eric Hörst is quite the busy man. He has written numerous books about climbing-specific training, over 60 articles, which have appeared in various magazines, and two guidebooks, including Climbing: VA, WV, & MD.  He has established over 450 rock climbs and all of this while being a husband, father of two and adjunct faculty and staff member at Millersville University.

Eric, began climbing in 1977, at age 13, in his home town of Lancaster, PA.  Like many kids his age, he participated in various traditional sports, but things started to change as he approached high school.  After reading Pat Ament’s Master of Rock, a biography of John Gill, Eric started gymnastics. This began his journey toward becoming the authority on Training for Climbing.

During high school, Eric climbed and trained during the week on nearby boulders and his home training wall, made of wooden blocks screwed into the ceiling and walls in his basement. On the weekends, he would travel with friends to the Gunks in New York state and Seneca Rocks, W.Va. In 1982, Eric began college at Penn State University and began climbing with local climber, Jim Bowers. The two of them climbed many of the area’s hardest climbs and developed some of the hardest.

In the fall of 1986, Eric was introduced to the place that was to the home of more than 200 of his first ascents.  The New River Gorge, which was only becoming known at the time, saw numerous first ascents during the 80s and 90s. Much of this was because of developers like Eirc, Artz, Parker, Reed and several others. Eric developed much of what is now known as Bubba City, which includes Diamond Life (5.13a) the NRG’s and West Virginia’s first 5.13.

Eric lives in Lancaster, PA with his wife, Lisa, and two sons, Jonathan and Cameron. The family travels and climbs when the boys aren’t doing more traditional sports. Eric still frequents the NRG, his climbing home.

For more about Eric check out this more complete bio on his personal site.