Voytek Radzik – Rock Climbing Dynamo

“In climbing it’s more struggling with your own weakness, that you can’t do a specific move or even more important, struggling with your mind and with fear.”

How long have you been in London for?
Six years and a month.

So it’s quite a while. Why did you make a decision about leaving your homeland? Why didn’t you want to stay in Poland?
At the beginning it was supposed to be just a year of break during studying and an opportunity to improve my English. I wasn’t thinking about earning good money, maybe just a little bit for my summer holidays. It turned into six years.

What was your first job here?
I couldn‘t find a job easily, no one told me what’s the best way of doing it here. I was doing it in a bit of a chaotic way with no proper plan, so it total in took me about a month to find a job.

Poland wasn’t in the European Union that time, right?
Exactly, so I didn’t have a working permit. I started from working on the sports stadium, through to restaurant, to a bar where I stayed for two years.

How was the beginning of your life here, and your accommodation situation? Did you have lots of fun, parties or was it rather depressing and difficult?
During the first month I run out of all my money so then it was bit hard. But later on it was great, the job in the bar was good, I felt good there. The time was passing on really quickly and I stayed there two years. I lived above the bar, we had parties, we were drinking lots of alcohol and some other stuff…

That job – were you doing something similar to it back in Poland?
No. In Poland I was studying and doing work at high altitude. During summer I worked as a climbing instructor.

What are you doing now for a living?
Climbing. All the money I earn here is connected to my climbing.

So you really live in your passion, don’t you?
Indeed.

Why you don’t work in a bar anymore? What happened that you decided to finish working there? Was there any breakthrough moment you thought you needed a change?

Well, I wanted to work on high altitude in London to earn good money. But it required firstly £700 investment in a course and certificates. Then somehow an idea about working in a climbing wall came up. I thought about not teaching but a kind of duty manager or and assistant. I wasn’t confident enough with my English, I was speaking quite good English but I wasn’t sure of that’s enough for teaching. I also didn’t have any qualifications for teaching. And stories like those were coming into my mind.

But after a while I, firstly, realized that my English is good enough to communicate with people easily. Secondly, there were lots of people already working at the wall, and in general the climbing business mother tongue is not English, so it gave me some more self-confidence. It appeared that many years of climbing and teaching in Poland gave me some very good experience and great prospects for work.

There was one moment which changed my way of thinking about work in the climbing industry. I bought a climbing magazine and there was an article about all sort of jobs in climbing, from taking movies about climbing through instructing jobs to high altitude jobs.

After reading that I tried to find out what I need to do to work in this industry. It took me a year doing qualifications. And since then I’m working here, at the climbing wall.

Did you climb while you were employed at the bar?
I had a break for a year. Now it’s difficult for me and my friends to believe in this. Since coming to London in October till late summer time I didn’t do any climbing. I was quite busy, also I sank into this bar life starting from work ending on partying. I never worked in Poland in this kind of environment so it was really interesting, I learned a lot about life, about social life, something I didn’t know when living in Poland. Also, there is no point of training just once a week, it would have taken me lots of time on travelling and money was an issue, too.

Do you do anything else other than climbing in your free time? Do you have any other hobbies?
No. Firstly, work at the wall is time consuming. If I don’t work I simply climb. So I really can’t find time for anything else.

Have you had any moments when you were considering going back home? Are you planning to go to Poland for good?
Not really. Whatever I would do here, whatever qualification I would gain, career or business I would have, it’s just easier to live in London, from an economical point of view. As I don’t have an great education which would allow me to have a career in Poland it’s better for me to live here. Very rarely I think that maybe, in future… Moreover, all my friends from Poland have gone all over the world, I don’t miss my family too much.

What do you like about London?
Variety. Lots of different, interesting people. Even here, at the wall you can talk to so many different people, sometimes for five minutes, for few weeks, sometimes you stay friends for good. You can get from them a good word, an interesting thought or advice which stays with you. So firstly people, then places, then events, e.g. concerts, exhibitions, mass-meetings, tour the France…

Do you have one specific place you like going back to, you would recommend, or something everyone should experience?
It’s difficult to recommend one. I like Camden, Covent Garden and Greenwich during summer.

The best climbing place in England?
Every place has its own beauty and it’s difficult to compare to each other. Especially that climbing on limestone is completely different from sandstone, it can’t be worse or better. Peak District, Portland, Dorset. Thanks to cheap flights I have easy access to great places in all Europe.

You know the name of this website so I’m going to ask you about ‘success’, ’successful’ people. What does it mean for you?
Success can be when I do what I like, I’m happy and my work is my hobby.

I also want to ask you about your hobby. You’ve been climbing for so many years. How do you do this so that you still want to, you don’t get bored with it? I suppose you’ve achieved so much in climbing that there is not much more you can do. Are you still developing? Where does your energy come from?
I started climbing 15 years ago. There are so many different types of climbing [then he specified - loads!]. I still have a lot to cover and experience in climbing. It’s never too much of climbing, it’s always too little.

Are there any people you look at, someone who inspires you?
In climbing it’s more struggling with your own weakness, that you can’t do a specific move or even more important, struggling with your mind and with fear. Of course, there are great climbers you admire for what they’ve achieved. But they are not great stars. You respect them, watch them, to use their experience but they are not gods. Nevertheless, you struggle just like them.

Coming back to this question about living in London. Here I had a chance to meet some climber I knew before from watching them in movies or on the internet and it was amazing to see them in real life, in London.

Last question, what are your plans for the next few years?
Next year I’m doing another level of qualification in outdoor climbing. And then third level, I suppose for the following year. Another option I consider is to get some experience or qualification not linked to climbing, in case I couldn’t do climbing.  Maybe an Apple engineer.

Thanks.

Voytek’s website

Climbing Masterclass