p. irwin loy

The Ard Arvin Interview

by rapmaster2000

Ard is a not so lovable jackass, my roommate, and founder of a stupid little website known as buildering.net -- but I suppose if you are reading this, then you know all about the latter.

What you don't know is that Ard spends way more time on his computer and playing with his records than he does buildering, so quell any romantic notions that you have of him as some sort of lone-wolf-masked-avenger stealing about in the night.

So what's with your name?

What do you mean? What's with yours?

I asked you first.

Well, ok, it's a nickname I got from a smith rocks trip about 2 yrs ago. There was this chick who was really drunk one night and hitting on me hard, around the campfire. She was talking real loud, and kept calling me "Arvin". No one bothered to correct her, instead we kinda just let her make a fool of herself.

So your real name is?

It's a secret.

And the "Ard"?

Same trip. We were calling everything "arrrrrd". It's how the french say "hard", like "that route's really arrrrrrrd". They say "hockey" funny too, "ockey... ockey".

Ard. London. 2003.

Do you play hockey?

No.

Well then you can't be very "arrrrd".

It's a self adopted title. Can we move on?

Sure, so you climb buildings?

Yes.

Why?

Finally a real question. Ok, I think it's a common perception amongst rock-climbers that buildering is just some silly pastime, something to do if the crags are wet, and the gyms are closed.

But the way I see it, buildering is the first, pure center of climbing. It's climbing in whatever environment you live in. We've been doing that since we could first walk. Since I spend most of my time in the city, I climb buildings.

So it's convenient?

Convenience aside, the main reason that I builder is because of its inherent fun. No one is out to prove anything. There's no rating system. There's really no real objective, other than to go out with your friends and have fun playing around on buildings. I think a lot of times when we rock climb, we get so focused on the task at hand, that forget why we are there in the first place.

Interesting.

And it's simpler. Most of the stuff I do is minus gear, [climbing] shoes, or chalkbag.

Like when I first started rock climbing, I did it way before I learned how to use gear. We'd just be driving along somewhere, and see some chossy, blasted cliff, and be stoked [on climbing it]. The only reason I learnt how to use gear was cause one time I kinda got stuck halfway up. After that point I vowed to my friend to not try anything harder until we learnt how to use gear.

Sketchy.

Maybe a little in hindsight, but you know, after you learn all the technical stuff about [rock] climbing, like the grades, and what shoes to wear and whatnot, it kinda changes the sport. It kinda becomes more of a planned mission. Like your climbing to overcome something. And you get all stuck in the ratings, like "I can't do that, it's 5.10c, I can only do 5.10b".

I guess rock climbing means different things to different people.

I guess, maybe that's why I suck.

So, for the record, you actually prefer buildering to rock-climbing?

Well yes and no. I like the whole being in nature aspect of rock-climbing. Mind you, the crags are so crowded, that you are less likely to run into people buildering then you are climbing.

Good point.

And coming from a skater background, I've always enjoyed re-interpreting the urban environment. Like that handrail isn't for holding onto, it's for skating! Same with buildering, "oh that's an ugly sculpture, but it'd make a good lieback".

It's kinda rebellious in a way. North American culture makes me so sick sometimes. How everything is so sterile and safety concious. "Be Extreme, but just not here, take it to the park, and don't forget your helmet and fee." Everything is designed to protect us from ourselves. Stupid laws are made in our best interest. Like helmet laws and seat-belts. Whatever happened to free choice? If someone doesn't want to wear their seatbelt, so be it. It's their life. If some kid wants to start smoking, who cares? They know the consequences. Survival of the fittest.

Knocking on wood doesn't always work.

Well, you've touched on a lot of different issues there. Let's focus on the legal aspect. Is buildering illegal?

I'm not actually sure if there is a law in Canada saying "climbing buildings is illegal".A couple states explicitly have that law. Jay Leno once did a comedy routine where he said "the state of ____ just passed a law making it illegal to climb buildings". He went on to say how stupid it was that someone had to be told climbing buildings is dangerous. I guess it was supposed to be funny.

I've never been arrested or caught for that matter (knock on wood), but I hear that the cops will usually try to lay some sort of trespassing charge on you. Most cops are too simple minded to understand that you are climbing a building for climbing sake, and not for some other criminal reason. I hear climbing banks is the worst. I try to stay away from them.

[Editor note: in 2006 Ard was caught climbing a crane. He was arrested under suspicion of break and enter (a summary offense), but was never charged. Ard claims there is no way they'd have a case since there were no fences, "no trespassing" signs, or anything else preventing him from walking up and climbing it.]

A polite manner will take you far in such situations.

Yeah I suppose so. I've always been a big fan of flight before fight. I guess that comes from my skating background.

The main thing is to keep things low. Don't vandalize, use chalk, write on windows, etc. If cops don't know that people builder, there's no problem.

It's like skating, you used to be able to skate everywhere, but as more and more kids got into it, and the whole tagging / vandalizing thing became cool, it got shut down. Now the only decent place to skate is the park, which in the climbing world, is equivalent to the gym.

Ok that's about it, anything else you wanna add?

Uhmm, not really.

Hair care tips?

Nope.

ard climbs a crack.