Justin Burd calls it "the most beautiful day ever."
The sky was the purest blue; the weather was warm.
And he and his 8-year-old daughter, Bella, were 1,700 feet up on a sheer rock cliff in Colorado.
"Not only was it with her, it was something I had been dreaming about since she was born," says Justin, a dedicated athlete who boasts a bold "Bella" tattoo scripted across his chest. "The fact that there was a beautiful sky; there was nobody out there but us, so we had this entire wall to ourselves. It was our day. I couldn't believe I was actually there doing this with her."
Bella, who started climbing when she was 2, is ready to do it again - and then some.
"It was really fun," says the tall and lanky, yet muscular, third-grader. "I thought it would take just a little while to climb, but it took almost three hours. I was tired but I definitely want to do it again, and I want to climb something higher, too."
Yes, Bella is a daddy's girl. And though she loves her mom just as much as her dad, the tow-headed student at Red Bank Elementary spends most of her time with her father, who's a concrete artist. He works mostly 9 to 5 while mom, Eve Burd, is a restaurant manager whose days can be long and whose hours are often unpredictable. So it's mostly Justin who has free time to spend with Bella and, wherever he goes, so does she.
After school, he takes her to gymnastic class and track meets. When time allows, they ride bikes in their North Chattanooga neighborhood and parks. But on weekends, the father and daughter are typically running river rapids or climbing rocks.
Back in September, they traveled to Boulder, Colo., where they scaled the Flatirons on Green Mountain. Until then, Bella had climbed rocks that were about 100 feet high.
Contributed photo by Justin Burd
"I wasn't scared at all," she says. "During the climb, I'd look down sometimes to see how high I was. Daddy and I were both anchored in. He'd climb up and wait for me to climb to him, then he'd climb higher and we did that until we got to the top. Along the way, he'd tell me what to do. I was wearing comfortable clothes, climbing shoes and a harness so I could hook in. Daddy teaches me all about safety."
"I knew everything was safe," Justin says. "The exposure part of rock is angled, and I knew she could handle it. I told her it would be the highest thing she's ever climbed. We climbed up 1,700 feet and rappelled about 700 feet off the back and that was dead vertical, but she had practiced a lot and did it really well."
To help Bella with her climbing skills, Justin built her both indoor and outdoor climbing walls at their home.
"I like to climb on my outside wall in the summer and inside in the winter," Bella says. "My inside wall (in her bedroom) has a huge crash pad - my bed."
Though Bella is brave, she's not fearless, Justin says.
"And that's a good thing. I'm not fearless either, I'm calculated," he explains. "I'll figure out risks first and whether or not I'd make it. Once I figure it out, then I'm going to do it well. I've taught Bella what I know, and I can see that she's just naturally a good athlete."
And her genuine interest in sharing his love of the sports has him on Cloud Nine.
"It gives me chills," he says. "Of course, I feel like a lot of parents do when their kid shares the same passions they do. I won't lie. I'm excited that she likes to rock climb and now that I've exposed her to kayaking and she likes it, it's amazing to me.
"It's fun to see her so passionate about things."
Eve Burd says she's always confident that her husband and daughter are going to be safe in whatever sport they've chosen that particular day.
"I wasn't necessarily scared about what they were doing in Colorado, but I'm always going to have that mommy in me that, before they go, I'll say, 'Please be careful,'" she says. "There won't be any risky behavior and Justin wouldn't do anything that he would have to second guess. They'll always check their gear not once, not twice but three times."
It helps her peace of mind that Justin has an extensive background in climbing and kayaking, she says. They actually met when both were whitewater river guides in West Virginia, but Eve rarely gets on the river anymore and she doesn't climb at all.
"He has taught many people to climb. He was also a professional kayaker with Team Wave Sport, so it's not like these activities are just hobbies of his. He's made a career out of both sports and, though they're not now necessarily careers, he takes both of them seriously. If it wasn't my own daughter but someone else's kid, Justin would be exactly the same way with them."
She does feel pangs of jealousy now and then when she can't be with them, especially on exciting adventures like the one in Colorado.
"I couldn't leave because of work, but I knew they'd be fine," she says.
And though Bella enjoys whitewater kayaking, gymnastics and cross-country running, she also likes princesses, makeup, Barbies and American Girl dolls. In fact, the adventure to Colorado also included a stop at an American Girl store in the state, Eve says.
Still, if the sun is out, Bella and Justin usually will either be on a rock or on a river.
"Pretty much all I ever talk about is rock climbing and kayaking, but I give Bella the option of what we're going to do that day," Justin says. "I hate being in the house if the sun is shining."
Contact Karen Nazor Hill at khill@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6396.