Our Team

A competitive swimmer for over 12 years, she did not have “land sports” in her early repertoire of physical activity. Swimming on the Varsity high school boys’ team all 4 years, she often made guys twice her size cry when they underestimated her speed and were left in her wake. She has maintained the record at SUNY Cortland for Women’s Deadlifting for over 10 years.

Valerie enjoys daily long drives, her 2 cats, and playing tennis (shh!), in addition to chasing after her young son and taking in the sights of the northern Hudson Valley. She also loves and can’t live without Burts Bees lip balm and Seinfeld re-runs. [ X ]

After finishing up her education in New York, Berlin, and Paris, she jumped into a career in public relations, marketing, information technology, and graphic design for a major not-for-profit organization in New York City. After several years of daily commutes to the noisy hustle and bustle of NYC, however, it was time for a change: Tina is now Administrative Manager for Pine Brook Fitness, home of The Rock Club, The New Rochelle Racquet Club and The Studios.

This was a perfect fit since climbing is her passion (rediscovered about 4 years ago when her brother gave her a climbing session as a gift), and she is diligently working at improving her skills and strength. Her most memorable moment on a high outdoor granite wall was looking down at the distant woods and lakes and watching the vultures gliding by below her vantage point. Tina’s favorite non-climbing activity is chasing the birds during spring and fall migration, aiming to get good photographs. She likes reading science-based books, coffee with condensed milk, and sounds of all kinds as she sees them in color, shape and motion. [ X ]

Paul has been climbing for over four years and became hooked as soon as he set foot in TRC. He is a lover of the outdoors, enjoys traveling, cooking, playing his guitar and drums, and investing in the stock market. One of his life long goals is to hike the Appalachian Trail in its entirety, ME to GA, all 2200 miles of it. He says Yosemite National Park is his favorite place on planet earth (check out the valley in his pic). When he’s not at the club, you can find him exercising, reading, teaching music lessons, and taking care of his eight year old american bombay cat, Lucy. [ X ]

His favorite climbing moment was when he took his first whipper down in Kentucky RRG. A “whipper” is defined as an especially long or hard fall. He went at least 20 ft before he stopped. The moment his hand slipped off the wall, he felt free. It was just him and nothing else, he just was.

If he could choose a super power, he would be “Multiple Man.” This hero has the ability to make as many copies of himself as he wanted, and then be able to gain the copies’ experiences when they are reabsorbed back to his original form. He is constantly searching for truth and knowledge. Xavier’s favorite non-climbing activity is definitely singing. He loves music in general and he’s always singing, always. [ X ]

On her own time at TRC, she enjoys doing flips and stretches in the on the springy blue mats. Pull ups are not her favorite but are necessary for climbing, and she is working on a new record. Out of anything in life, food is a favorite and a must. Good food brings good energy into climbing! Whether on the wall or on the floor, she likes to annoy everyone with her singing. [ X ]

Of course, as much as he likes climbing, he does have a life outside of TRC (we think). At home, Conor loves hanging out with friends, writing fantasy novels, and playing video games. Outside, you can either find him hiking a mountain somewhere or in the city with some friends solving puzzles in an escape room. He’s also known to be looking for his next adventure, whether it be camping somewhere in New York or flying to another country. But of course, as much as he loves to be out he’s always happy to come home to his friends, family, and TRC. [ X ]

Born and raised in the heart of New York City, he now lives in the suburbs of CT with his family; which includes a lovely wife who doesn’t climb, a son and daughter who do (intermittently), and a beagle dog who watches the house in their absence.

The first time Pierre climbed at The Gunks, he remembers being perched on a small ledge along with his leader while every single climbing horror story he’d ever heard ran through his mind. He had to make a conscious decision right then and there as to whether he would bail and would just be a boulderer and stay safely close to the ground from then on, or work up the nerve to continue upwards. He chose ‘up’ and hasn’t looked back since, although he does recommend looking down quite often to find the next foothold. [ X ]