Nicholas Block
My name is Nicholas Block, and I hail from the great mountaineering state of Illinois. My passion for the outdoors began when my Dad and I started Cub Scouts, and through twelve years in the scouting program I was exposed to countless adventures. I first visited Devil’s Lake when I was twelve, and couldn’t get enough of the incredible scenery, hiking, scrambling, climbing, and everything else the park has to offer.
While I climbed outdoors occasionally in Scouting, I didn’t start climbing regularly until I began as a Mechanical Engineering student at Purdue University. The openness of the climbing community drew me in, and I met many people who shared their love of climbing. I soon learned to lead climb in the gym, and then began leading routes at the Red River Gorge in Kentucky. Over the subsequent years I began learning everything I could about traditional climbing, and have since led many single and multipitch adventures across the country.
In high school, I worked for four years as a Taekwondo instructor, teaching students skills in self-defense and physical fitness. I also worked as a math tutor at Mathnasium, helping kids adopt powerful problem-solving frameworks. In college, I was fortunate enough to work as a backpacking guide at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, where I taught scouts and their parents to survive and thrive on backcountry adventures. Now that I have finished my time at Purdue, I will be starting as a product design engineer at Milwaukee Tool in Milwaukee. Guiding climbing adventures at Devil’s Lake keeps my love of teaching and climbing alive while pursuing an engineering career.
When I’m not working as an engineer or guiding climbing trips, I spend my time going on my own climbing adventures. In the winter, I switch out the rope and harness for skis and boots, and find great joy in alpine bowls, chutes, and glades. I also play the cello in orchestras and ensembles and enjoy building and fixing things. I can’t wait help more budding climbers discover abilities and passions they didn’t even know they had!
