My process for writing these conversations is always the same. Find someone to interview. Organise the interview. Just talk to them about anything and everything. Write it. Send it to them to approve. Post it. The process doesn’t take long once you are in the rhythm, but if I’m not, they take a bit longer.

So why do I start like this. Because this one fell out of my rhythm and took a VERY long time to finish. It’s with someone who knows all about rhythm when it comes to climbing, as it’s with Speed climber Erik Noya Cardona.

I’m sure if you have seen any climbing, especially Speed, you would have noticed the larger-than-life Spanish guy who always has a smile on his face. This is why I had to find the time to get this interview out there, but also why I have to apologise to Erik especially for taking so long!

The transcript of our talk has been sitting on my laptop staring at me for closer to years than months. Every time I am at an event I see Erik and I admit it…I feel the guilt I haven’t gotten round to it yet. But here we go.

Erik is Spanish. But he is also Venezuelan. Let’s clear this up as a start.

“I'm Spanish since I was born. It’s just that I was born in Venezuela.”

Ok, so that’s clear…right…

“My father was born in Vigo, in the region of Galicia in northern Spain, and there is a law that if you are child of someone Spanish but born abroad, then you are also Spanish. Well something like that.

“So when I was born, my father took me to the embassy and put me in what we call here a ‘family book’.

“I received Spanish nationality since day zero, but I was born in Venezuela and I'm also a Venezuelan citizen. And actually I was born and raised there. I moved to Spain in 2017 and before that I competed for Venezuela.”

Clear now? Let’s dig into it a little bit more together.

Erik’s father, Xavier, was born in Spain but living in Venezuela at the time that Erik was born. Next question, how did Xavier end up in Venezuela?

“Well, my grandfather went there because of the civil war going on in Spain. Because of that there was a lot of hunger and my granddad said he had to go somewhere else because they were going to starve, and that’s when they moved to Venezuela.”

The Spanish Civil War was a brutal conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican government and Nationalist rebels led by General Francisco Franco. The Nationalists, who were supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy was a precursor to World War II.

Erik's grandfather Oscar and grandmother Consuelo enjoyed some business success after the move to Venezeula and brought a lot of the family to the country – with Xavier and Erik’s mother, Irene – part of the family that relocated.

Being born in Venezuela and living there through his formative years, this is where Erik was introduced to climbing.

“I grew up in the climbing community in Venezuela. It was super small, but still in those days it was the biggest climbing community in South America alongside the Ecuadorian.”

Like many other children there is always a sport or two tried and tested before you land on ‘your’ sport, and for Erik that was swimming.

“Before I was a swimmer because my father played a lot of water polo and my parents thought that swimming was very important for life.

“I did that for almost four years, something like that, and I was pretty good. But I didn't enjoy the cold sensation from the water from the pool when I was small so I told my parents like, OK, no, I don't like this. I want to change. I want to do something else.”

Erik’s venture into climbing began with something very boring and mundane that probably all of us have experienced at some point in our lives – traffic.

“I saw a climbing wall near my house because we were stuck in some traffic and I told my mom, OK, I wanna do that. She was like, ‘what are you crazy? No, that's too crazy’.”

Having already experienced climbing at a friend’s birthday party, Erik knew it wasn’t crazy for him.

“I really enjoy it and it was very easy for me. All my friends were scared. For me it was normal, like that was my environment. I just went to the top super easy. They put harder routes but I still found it easy and I kept that in my memory.”

After this Erik did something every child did – he kept on nagging his mother. His mother, she did what every mother does to one degree or another – she gave in and let Erik climb.

Despite Irene’s hesitation, Erik knew from the very first moment it was the right thing and going to play a major part in his life.

“As soon as I went to my first class I met amazing people. It wasn’t the ‘standard’ vibe and I just knew this is my place and these people became my family. After that, I was linked to climbing forever.”

Erik specialises in Speed now, but from that first class he tried everything – Boulder, Lead and Speed. Venezuela however was a bit different when it came to the more traditional European climbing discipline hierachy which helped shape Erik’s climbing trajectory.

“Venezuela were better on the rankings at Speed than in Boulder and Lead. Of course, the development for these two others disciplines is harder, they are more expensive.

“The biggest amount of money we received was from the government, and you had to go to the government and say like, hey, these are our results internationally and that would increase the possibilities to receive a higher income. So Speed climbing was used as a bit of a catapult. For us, doing Speed was like a way to fund the other two.”

Speed climbing wasn’t just about funding the other disciplines though, it was about funding climbing as a whole.

“I think we really enjoy to do Speed because for us climbing had three disciplines, so you did them all. It was all seen as one sport at the end of the day. It’s all climbing.”

You start to see a bit more into the mind of Erik when he talks about climbing and how he started, it seemed to have a very strong influence on how he would later turn out as the happy and bubbly adult he is now.

“I think I had a very happy childhood. When I was little I always had the sensation that everything was fine and the people were happy and climbing. The climbing environment I grew up in was super, super fun.”

As a child, school is another place that we spend a lot of time and can help shape who we become, and for Erik, well if you know him now you can definitely see what he was like as a school pupil.

“I was a kid who liked to talk and to move a lot. And that was a little bit hard for me when I had to sit for a two hour lesson.

“I didn't have any troubles or I didn't hate it, because I also like to learn. I'm a very curious person and of course school opens that gate, and I think I took advantage.

“School was a lot about the friends. I have good memories from that. They understood I was climbing and for them it was like ‘OK, that's just a kid that goes climbing for fun’ but then they didn't understand when I would have to be out for one week for competition.”

How Erik ended up in Venezuela from Spain was because of problems within the country during his grandfathers time, and now he would be leaving Venezeula to return to Spain because of severe political and economic problems during his time.

“Like I said, I had a good childhood, and the climbing community was so welcoming, but after 2014 everything started to change within the country. Venezuela wasn’t the same place I grew up in, and that was one of the main reasons why I left.”

Leaving a place you have called home can be a very scary thing. Sometimes it is done through choice, and some times it is done through neccessity – but whatever the reason it can still be hard.

“I was super nervous about moving, but I was also very nervous in Venezuela because the situation was very, very bad. The options were I stay in Venezuela where it is a bit crazy or I just explore something new and find a new way, even though I'm really scared.

“I choose the the second option and I'm really happy about it. But yes, I have to admit I was very scared.

“I was also very sad because deep down I didn't want to move from Venezuela. It was my home, my people. I feel the connection there. So it was very hard for me to say goodbye and look for a different path, different people, and different society.”

Erik has an older brother, Jordi, and both of them moved to Spain ahead of their parents, but to different places.

“Jordi went to Barcelona and I went to Madrid and we started from zero.

“The initial idea of my parents was being in Venezuela for six months because they have all the businesses they built, house, everything and they wanted to be there for six months and then come to Spain and visit us for a few months.

“But my mom had to come to get the Spanish citizenship because she just had a Venezuelan passport. She had to stay here for two years.”

I said moving country is scary sometimes, and it can also be messy. Erik was in Spain, but in a different part of the country from his brother. His mother’s plan had to change to look toward the future. His father was still in Venezuela trying to sort out the life they had there.

For all the mess, there was still love and people surrounding Erik and his family that helped him through a difficult time.

“Paz Rodriguez, she is like my godmother, and a person that is a very important person for me. She opened up her home to me and told me I could stay for the first few months.

“Those first months ended up being around a year and a half, but it really helped me to to find my way in Spain. My brother also had a good friend in Barcelona that told him the same, come and I will open my place to you.”

Eventually the family would be reunited in Spain, although in different parts of the country with Erik in Barcelona and his parents and brother in Galicia.

Trying to dig deeper into Erik and how he is the way he is, family is always a good place to start.

“Me and Jordi have a lot of stuff in common, but also we are very different in some others. He’s a fisherman in Galicia working on a boat on the sea – I could never do that. I would never fish.

“My dad is currently trying to be retired. I always remember him as a business man but he used to be a pilot and always has these crazy stories from then. My mom, she was a journalist.”

Bringing the focus back to Erik, every time I see him at events he always radiates this positive vibe and seems to have this infectious love of life affecting all around him, but what does he do when he has some time to himself?

“I'm a very curious person and I love to be moving all the time. But I like to cook. I like to watch TV. It depends on what I want during that certain period of time.

“I like to do things with my hands, like build Legos is something I really enjoy. I like to see the things I’ve built so all the Legos that I do, they are on a display at my home.

“Maybe if I wasn’t climbing I would be doing something with my hands and creating. Making some things from wood you know.”

Although I say Erik seems to brush his positivity off on everyone around him, in the Speed climbing world he feels there are some more than others that he is drawn to.

“For competitions and training I think Jakarta is a little bit like Caracas. So if you've been to Jakarta somehow you have been to Caracas. The style, the colours, the smell, the heat, the humidity, it's very similar.

“Maybe that’s why I feel I have so much in common with the Indonesian team and we have a strong bond.”

Another thing you immediately notice about Erik when you see him is the tattoos, and it is no surprise these also have meaning for him.

“At the beginning, yes, they all had a meaning. My first tattoo was a representation of my life in general. It has meaning from my family, for sports, for all the elements. It has water.

“I started to put meaning into each tattoo, but then I started to like them a lot and now it's more attachments in my life. For example, there’s a jungle because I really like the animals and I think they are very important and I feel really in connection with them.”

I keep referring back to Erik’s infectious personality, it even comes through in photos or on screen when he competes, and when I ask him about his ‘zen’ attitude he wants everyone to know his philosophy on life, something I am happy for him to share.

“I had to leave so many things in my life that, but I try now to pursue the things that bring happiness and not focus on the negative. I think this is what people see in me.

“The message I want to deliver is that I think if you do something that you like with your heart, then probably you will be happier even though it may not make you rich, for example.”

As I’ve taken so long to write this ‘conversation with…’ it’s only right that I let Erik have the last word, mainly because of my guilt for taking too long to tell the story of such a great guy, but also because I know it’s going to be something very meaningful to finish on – and of course Erik didn’t disappoint.

“Sometimes it feels like the climbing community is divided between disciplines, but simply we are all climbers doing something we love, and united we will have an even better community.

“I really want to say thanks to all the athletes because when I go to competitions people are very friendly with me. They receive me with open arms.

“And if I can serve as an inspiration for the younger generation that would be awesome. Them, and everyone, should follow your dreams and climb with your heart.”

By Richard Aspland