Jesse Grupper on Winning Golds, Helping Others & Dealing with a Lifetime Disease

When I interviewed Jesse Grupper back in November 2021, he had recently flashed Livin’ Astro, a bouldery and complex 5.14c in Rumney, NH, and was just days away from his second consecutive Lead victory at U.S. Nationals—and yet in our conversation, I was surprised to learn that Grupper, though clearly one of America’s most talented sport climbers, was openly ambivalent about his commitment to hard climbing. On the one hand, he cared deeply about the sport and wanted to honor the 14 years of effort he’d put into it; but on the other hand, he was working full time in biodesign lab in Boston (he helped design a hand-rehabilitation exoskeleton for post-stroke patients: essentially gloves that allow patients to replicate therapy sessions at home) and struggling with questions about “how much good [climbing is] doing for others versus just for myself.”

Since then, much has changed for Grupper. In March he made the U.S. team in both Bouldering in Lead and, after some deliberation, decided “to give one last wack at the whole competitive climbing thing.” He went part-time at the lab and moved to Salt Lake City, Though he struggled mightily at the start of bouldering season (he was one of several competitors unable to get off the ground on any of the problems at Meiringen, his first comp, which he describes as “ the most embarrassing round of competition I’ve ever had”), he turned things around and nearly made semis at the end of the season. In Lead, Grupper’s specialty, he podiumed in the year’s first comp, took gold in two more events, and—despite a series of mishaps—came agonizingly close to winning the overall Lead season.

So I decided to catch up with Grupper to chat about the year. We talked about his robotics work and about what it was like training with the U.S. team; we talked about the combination of hard work and mental tricks that allowed him to come back from his experience at Meiringen; we talked about the differences between his bouldering and lead training; and we talked about how his health condition—he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in during his freshman year of college—impacts both his climbing and his personal understanding of the role that technology can play in improving people’s lives.  

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