LUKE DREYFUSS

16 Years Old

Hometown: Montclair, NJ



New Jersey. Some may see it as New York City’s weird cousin, but here at V20, we see it for what it really is. An ongoing experiment on how to churn out the next generation of elite climbers.


We caught up with Luke Dreyfuss, a 16 year old climber hailing from Montclair, NJ. There’s a lot to Luke and what makes him tick. So read on to learn more about how he discovered his potential, obscure cave missions, questing on the sharp end, and alpine shitshows.


If you’re interested in learning more about the Gumby Circuit, we took some time to reflect on his experience this past November as one of five competitors. As always, go watch the Gumby Circuit video on the V20 Youtube Channel and check out the store here on the website.





What’s On Luke’s Mind?



How much longer do you have on the youth circuit?


I’ve got 2 years.



Are you going to keep pursuing comp climbing?


I don’t know. I’m kind of torn because on the one hand, I really do love competing. But also, I know that I don’t really want to be a pro climber… Or I don’t want to compete nationally when I’m an adult. I want to go to college and stuff. So I think I’ll probably end up switching to outdoors when I age out of the youth circuit.



In the next two years what do you want to accomplish before you age out?


Make finals at nationals. I mean, I made semis once and it felt not out of reach for me.



Yea, it seemed like you had a breakthrough that season. What about your performance made you realize finals were within reach? 


That was the year when I started going outdoors more. I think I’d sent V9 for the first time. And I was just kind of starting to figure out how far I could actually go with climbing.


That entire nationals experience just showed me that the level of climbing wasn’t that far off.



USAC Youth Nationals Semi Finals 2023



Can you paint us a picture of the moment you came to that realization?


The climbs in semi finals… I have the clearest memory of touching all of them and being like, wow, these actually aren’t very hard. These are really doable.


And it was less about just pure climbing strength that I had to improve on. There were so many more little things like mental and comp strategy. And it kind of showed me that all that was within reach.



Early Days:



When did you realize that you were going to be a climber?


I think I started at a birthday party. And I was like, I kind of like this. And then, I started to take a couple of lessons and that’s when I started to realize I really liked it. I wanted to get into it more.



Did you go straight into the team environment?


I spent a month or two just doing private lessons. And then I switched to advanced team or something like that at the Gravity Vault.



That was your first gym?


My first gym was New Jersey Rock gym.



Your parents climb too. Was that because of you?


Yea, that was because of me. My mom started climbing three years ago and my dad too. My mom takes climbing very seriously. She goes as much as I do if not more. And my dad does a lot more outdoors stuff.



Training:



Are you doing any dedicated mental training?


Not dedicated, but I definitely started focusing on it more after last year. Because that year (two years ago), I was super hyped on how well I did. And then last year, my mental definitely held me back and I didn’t even make nationals. And so that’s what kind of made me switch teams from the Gravity Vault. I realized that I had to change something in my training. So now I’m focusing a little more on the mental aspect.



What kinds of things are you working on with your mental game?


It’s a lot of mock four minute rounds. Especially getting closer to regionals and divisionals. Just to get in that mindset. I’ve found that being in that mindset during four minutes and specifically keeping a level head when I’m on the wall in a really important moment is my biggest weakness. So it’s kind of about putting myself in those situations more and getting more used to that experience I guess.



You mentioned you switched teams. Did you find what you were looking for?


Yea, so it was partially setting. I mean, the setting at the Gravity Vault Hoboken was not really very comp style and method is all comp style. And then it was also partially coaching.


At Method, there are way more coaches and they have way more experience with that type of mental stuff and kind of everything that I was missing. It's a way more structured team than the Gravity Vault was. And I definitely felt a difference in my climbing.



You seem to enjoy benchmarking. Are you really into training or are you more about pure climbing?


Yea, I like to say I’m kind of in between. I’ll always fall back to just climbing really hard. I feel like that’s how I got strong. When I had that one breakthrough year, I never touched a weight. I was just moonboarding every practice and climbing really really hard. But I definitely, now more than ever, am Kind of splitting myself between climbing training and non climbing  training.


But I’ve always found that climbing really really hard is kind of what feels the most beneficial to me. But I’ll work out every practice.


Definitely more climbing focussed.



Are you able to do a one arm on a 10 mill yet?


Nah. Gettin there.



How does your board climbing translate into your performance in comps?


I’ve recently found that it just doesn't really translate as much as I’d like it to. So I definitely have found myself Moon Boarding much much less. No matter how much I love it, and how fun it is, I know that it’s not really gonna benefit me for comps. So I have to work on my weaknesses.



What about on the boulders?


I definitely spend at least one day a week on the moon board or the tension board just to keep that outdoor strength. But comps have definitely been a bigger focus for me this year than outdoors.



Boulders:



You’re still a student and you can’t drive. Yet, somehow you’re tearing through the Gunks. How are you doing that?


Well luckily my mom climbs and she goes out climbing with her friends in the gunks a lot so that makes it a lot easier to get there. And my dad climbs too, so when I go he’ll come climb with me a little bit. So that makes it a lot easier.


In terms of school, I can only go on the weekends really. But it’s not too much of a hurdle to get over.






You have an impressive Gunks tick list and they all kind of have similar vibes. What do you look for in the boulders you pick?


I guess for my process outdoors, in terms of picking climbs, I’ve kind of just always looked at what I walked by on the Carriage Road and what looks sick. I just go out and do that. I’ve just always been motivated by what I find really cool.



Where is Gunks bouldering going?



There’s so much. There are so many areas that I haven't been to yet that I want to go to really badly. You know Becks? Me and him are talking about getting out to some of the other areas in the Gunks. Like Waterworks. We’ve never been. There are so many cool hard climbs there. Even Carriage Road and Lost City. There’s just so much stuff to get to still. You could spend a lifetime just climbing the hard boulders here.


Eagle Rock:




Tell me about Eagle Rock.


It’s the most shitty little cave. The rock is terrible and really sharp. But it’s kind of sick. I don't know. I like it.


It’s a really strange spot because Montclair, the town, is built on a hill and at the top of the hill there’s a little ridge line, like a little cliff line that kind of runs along the whole town. There’s kind of nothing. And then there’s just this one spot that has this cave. And I don’t know if it’s blasted or not, but I still think it’s sick.


Highway Cave Boulder, Eagle Rock Reservation


You and Josh put some lines up out there, right?


There was a V5, a V4 and there was a V9. And that was it. I remember looking at this old guidebook I have and seeing that it said there was potential for a V10+ line. And I was like, I gotta go check it out.

We put up two lines. One of them was V9, maybe V10. And the other one I haven't done yet. It’s the one that Josh put up and it’s V10.


And then there's another line which we’re kind of envisioning which could be super hard. It would kind of traverse around the whole thing and go over the really steep part of the cave. But yea, definitely want to get back.



Alpine + Trad:




Outside of bouldering, what are you motivated on? If not for the comp season.


I’m always psyched on trad and alpine stuff. Over spring break, my dad and I are gonna go on a trip to Sierra Nevada and do some alpine rock there.


And then we’re probably gonna go to the Cascades over summer and do some mountaineering objectives. I don’t know, I’m always psyched on mountaineering.



Do you have any specific objectives in the Sierras?


I haven't really looked into it too much. But definitely Mount Whitney. There are a lot of alpine rock routes which I would want to do.


But definitely more in Washington. Mount Baker is a big one. That’s just always thrown us off every time we try to summit. The weather is kind of terrible every time we go there. So, hoping to finally get a good spell and maybe try to ski down it too.



Can you tell me about Mt. Adams?


Yea, that trip was something. We originally planned to hike up and ski down Mount Baker. Which is way further up North. And then also do another mountain called Eldorado Peak. The moment we landed, the weather had completely switched and it would have been a bad idea to go up either of those mountains.


We decided to drive further south to Mount Adams and do the hike up and ski down. The weather looked kind of perfect there. When we got up to our second camp, the weather completely switched again. It was like 60 mile an hour winds and it was complete white out. And so we kind of stayed the night there and went down the next day because it wasn’t getting better. But it was so fun. We still got to ski down.




Approach on Mt. Adams




I know you do all your alpine objectives with your dad. How’s the alpine team dynamic between you two?


We kind of always laugh about it. I remember when that was happening on Mt. Adams we were just like, of course… of course. I don't know. We always just have fun with it.

Do you want to take your alpine climbing to higher levels?


I definitely do. I’m definitely going to keep doing it even through college and stuff. We’re taking this course through the summer. I’ll be a lot more independent with it. I definitely have a couple of friends who want to start doing it. I don’t  know how serious I want to be with it, but I definitely want to keep going on mountaineering trips whenever I can. That’s definitely affected what colleges I’m looking at. Definitely mountains and climbing.



Do you have much experience on alpine rock?

Not much. I’m taking an alpine technical course over the summer in Washington which is kind of going to be for that.



Tell me about Rock Pro Camp in Maine.


I did that last summer. I’ve done that camp over the past three or four summers. I guess it’s kind of cool to see my progression. I started out in the first camp which is just top roping. That was like four years ago. Then this last year I did Rock Pro 3, which is supposed to be sport, but we ended up doing Rock Pro 4 too. So Rock Pro 4 is trad. And ever since then I’ve been tradding. I spent a lot of time at the end of the summer tradding in the gunks. It was super cool.



Who do you go out with?


I only know one other kid who’s tradding. He was on my old team. And that’s who I go tradding in the gunks with as well. His name is leo.



What are you getting on out there?


Over the summer we spent two days there. We stayed at a campsite and spent two days running up all the classic moderates, or easier stuff, like 6s and 7s. We led High E and a bunch of other classic, easier stuff.


We were both kind of like touching up and getting used to tradding on our own.


Gunks NY 2024


Even though that terrain is well within your ability, are there ever moments where you feel afraid?


Am I feeling afraid? No, I mean I trust my gear. That’s the most important part about trad. Trusting your gear.







Gumby Circuit:




How did you hear about the Gumby Circuit?


I think Josh saw it and he sent it to me. We kind of always talk to each other about what comps are happening and stuff.



What were your initial impressions of it?


I started reading it and I was like, holy shit, I gotta do this. I’ve never done an outdoor comp and I also haven't really explored the city much. So, it’s kind of two things that I really have been wanting to do. Which is just perfect.



You and Josh were on BMX bikes. Did that suck?


I mean, it wasn’t terrible. It was definitely noticeably slow.


The worst part for us was the navigation. We tried to take a short cut and we ended up under the bridge and had to carry our bikes up 15 flights of stairs. This lady jumped out and screamed at us.




Luke Pulling Up to  Story of a Hurricane V7



How did you feel about the climbing itself?


It was better than I thought it would be. I’ve only seen videos of NYC bouldering and I was always like, that doesn’t look that good. The first 10 on the arete was so cool (It’s A Wonderful Life V10). And the V3 was one of the best V3s i've ever been on (Dream of a Warmer Day V3). It was way better than I thought it would be.




Did it feel like a competition?


Ya definitely. With the score cards and stuff, it all kind of reminded me of the comps that I had done before. It kind of got me in the same mindset.


But I’d say it's pretty different just because it was a much more relaxed environment. It felt more like local competitions. Like the qualifiers before regionals. Those comps are mostly just really fun and you're just competing with your friends and trying hard stuff. That’s what it reminded me of.


Gumby Circuit Crew Posted up at Worthless



Is the long hair ever coming back?


Nah.