Northern England has some of the world’s best rock climbing.
![VDiff Climbing why i climb big rocks](https://www.vdiffclimbing.com/wp-content/images/fun/why-i-climb-virginity/why-i-climb-big-rocks-virginity-1.png)
But I always wondered what it would be like to climb in other places.
My friend Callum came up with an idea one day:
![VDiff Climbing why i climb big rocks](https://www.vdiffclimbing.com/wp-content/images/fun/why-i-climb-virginity/why-i-climb-big-rocks-virginity-3.png)
Fresh out of university, I was supposed to start a career. With a long-term girlfriend, I was supposed to get married and have babies.
I couldn’t just leave everything behind and go climbing.
At a pivotal point in life, I decided to get my priorities straight.
![VDiff Climbing why i climb big rocks](https://www.vdiffclimbing.com/wp-content/images/fun/why-i-climb-virginity/why-i-climb-big-rocks-virginity-4.png)
So I quit my job, left my girlfriend and went to California.
![VDiff Climbing why i climb big rocks](https://www.vdiffclimbing.com/wp-content/images/fun/why-i-climb-virginity/why-i-climb-big-rocks-virginity-5.png)
After climbing those big rocks, this is what I thought would happen.
![VDiff Climbing why i climb big rocks](https://www.vdiffclimbing.com/wp-content/images/fun/why-i-climb-virginity/why-i-climb-big-rocks-virginity-6.png)
But in reality, it was more like this.
![VDiff Climbing why i climb big rocks](https://www.vdiffclimbing.com/wp-content/images/fun/why-i-climb-virginity/why-i-climb-big-rocks-virginity-7.png)
![VDiff Climbing why i climb big rocks](https://www.vdiffclimbing.com/wp-content/images/fun/why-i-climb-virginity/why-i-climb-big-rocks-virginity-8.png)
Climbing my first big wall was an incredibly powerful experience. It was like losing my virginity to a supermodel.
I wanted more. I wanted to stay in America forever and climb big rocks. But, by law, I couldn’t.
![Climbing Washington Column Yosemite aid climbing](https://www.vdiffclimbing.com/wp-content/images/fun/why-i-climb-virginity/why-i-climb-big-rocks-virginity-9.png)
So I stayed anyway as an illegal immigrant.
Back then, in my mid-twenties, life was simple. I worked temporary jobs, I lived in a van, I had no real commitments.
Climbing was just a fun thing to do.
Or at least, that’s how it all began.