Todd McCormick is is the Director of Retail Operations and Outdoor Programming at ASCEND Climbing Gym in Pittsburgh’s South Side neighborhood. He’s also one of Rolling Pepperoni’s favorite Appalachian outdoors enthusiastic. (Remember Todd’s Top Twelve?) He’s climbed more mountains than anyone we know, and his love for what he calls “The Beast Coast” shines through each step. Though our pal is moving to Oregon in a few weeks, he promises to find excuses to visit the Paris of Appalachia, especially considering how much of it he’s recently discovered on foot. Reflecting on his time in Pittsburgh as he experiences it in new ways, Todd shares with us some guidelines for experiencing the outdoors during a pandemic.
Todd McCormick of ASCEND Climbing Gym, based in Pittsburgh, PA and anticipating a move to Oregon. Porch Talks with Rolling Pepperoni, April 9, 2020.
“Appalachia to me is just like... it’s beautiful, but it’s this ruggedness. You know, like Shenandoah, and Seneca and the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. Yeah, it’s different from the West Coast. It maybe doesn’t have the snowy mountains like Rocky Mountain National Park and the Pacific Northwest, Mount Hood, which I am getting excited about. But there’s still like beautiful mountains, and it’s rugged, and it’s difficult. Appalachia, man, it’s hard. I like to trail run as well as climb and the trail runs that are here are really hard. They’re technical and rocky. But then, they have like these beautiful vistas, and these beautiful waterfalls that you’ll find along the way. One of my favorite trail runs that I’ve ever done... it’s a race in Worlds End State Park, which is about an hour from where I grew up. It’s in Sullivan County in Pennsylvania. The race that I did is the 100k version of the race, and I’ve done it twice now. It’s just so beautiful, like one moment you’re in the thick of the woods. The next moment, you’re running alongside a gorgeous, big pond. The next moment, there’s this big vista that comes up out of nowhere. And then the next moment, you’re by a creek that leads you to a waterfall. It’s really pretty and definitely holds a special place in my heart.”