As sophomore Billy Porter clung to the limestone walls in Geyikbayiri, Turkey, he had one thought that kept repeating in his mind: pain is mental. “I had to keep tricking myself into thinking that the fire burning in my arms as I moved up the wall and the bleeding cuts on my hands weren’t there. It kept me  going,” he said.

Porter, who has been climbing for eight years, was first introduced to the sport at a friend’s birthday party when he was eight at an indoor climbing site in Tyrone. “It was a casual thing and when I left, I told my mom I wanted to come back,” Porter said. “Now I’m obsessed with it.”

Over the years, Porter transitioned from indoor to outdoor climbing. This past fall, Porter’s family friends, Lukas Knapp and Paul Oberbauer, who live in Austria, came up with the idea of taking a four-day rock climbing trip in Turkey. They planned it so they were able to go within the time span of the Porters’ yearly holiday vacation in Austria. His mom, however, wasn’t quite as excited about her son’s plans.

“My mom has tons of European friends and she is from Salzburg,  so she asked around about the climbing location and stayed updated on Turkey’s recent news to make sure it was safe,” Porter said. “She also knows how experienced I am and trusted that I would know what I was doing, so eventually she was fine with it.”

As experienced climbers, Porter and his friends made sure that they packed the correct supplies. “We used rope, two carabiners and hooks,” Porter said. “We brought minimal food up with us to get us through the day and drank a sufficient amount of  water.” Porter said they wore helmets and climbing shoes and kept chalk on their harnesses to keep their hands dry from sweat and the damp walls. Knapp and Oberbauer brought along a camera drone to film their progress up the face of the walls.

“My friends got the drone online for about $400,” Porter said. “It was square in shape with a four-propeller, remote-controlled quadrocopter.  Then we mounted a Go-Pro camera on top of  it to film us.”

Porter and his friends stayed in a small bungalow in the town about 1,000 yards from the rock wall, which offered about 100 routes for climbers to choose from. “There also was a small restaurant and gathering hall near the bungalow, so everything was within walking distance,”  Porter said.

For a majority of the rainy trip, Porter put most of his focus on finishing a specific, difficult route, known as the Junimond, which was 70-80 feet high. To most people this would be a frightening height, but according to Porter, this elevation is common to rock climbers of his level.  “It was really ‘pumpy,’ meaning that it tires out the upper-body quickly and once I got close to the end, my forearms were like knots,” Porter said.

For the first three days, Porter climbed up to one specific roof or exit, which is a ledge of rock that is just before the last portion of the route. All his attempts to get past that point were futile until the fourth day.  “To get to the last big hold (grip in the wall), I had to swing,” Porter said. “I usually would just fall and give up for the first three days, but the final time, some sort of mental Adrenalin kicked in. I pushed off with 110 percent and stuck the landing. The weirdest thing happened after that. Once I got past that part, I finished the rest of the route with ease, and it was like all the fire in my arms disappeared.”

Turkey’s climate, which normally hovers in the 50s in December, made it difficult for Porter and his friends to climb. However, Porter didn’t let this annoyance ruin his trip and continued to climb every day. “The weather was usually hit or miss since December is part of the rainy season in Turkey,”  Porter said. “Most of the time I was cold and wet.” Porter and his friends climbed in Geyikbayiri from Dec. 28 to Jan. 2.

Cost-effectiveness also made the trip enjoyable. “Everything was ridiculously cheap,” Porter said. “It’s kind of funny because when we were booking the trip, the travel agent told us it would be 315 euros and we thought he meant per person, but it actually turned out to be the price for all three of us combined.”

Porter said that he was pleased with the trip but wished that he could have had more time to climb. “I definitely want to go back again and do some more stuff, but I did enjoy that we got some cheap, good-quality climbing.”

Utilizing the camera drone, they filmed themselves as they climbed. Click this link to watch it. vimeo.com/117046164