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#484917 - 08/09/05 10:37 AM
the "uselessness" of climbing?
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Pooh-Bah
Registered: 05/03/05
Posts: 2298
TRs: 0
Photos: 8
Loc: the red X, d'oh!
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I'm reading a book, "Fatal Mountaineer," about Willi Unsoeld, and the author, a non-climber journalist, keeps referring to the "uselessness" of climbing and mountaineering.
On one hand, I can agree that climbing is useless to general society--it doesn't solve any of the world's problems. OTOH, climbing does a lot for/to the individual climbing--obviously. It tones your body and mind in a way possibly particular to climbing. Climbing isn't any more useless than the Tour de France or any other sport, really.
Also, stories about climbing also are inspirational to armchair climbers, so you could say climbing contributes culturally, as do other sports.
If I didn't climb, I doubt I'd be pursuing a Ph.D in cellular biology and finding a cure for cancer. It's not distracting me from higher pursuits.
This also brings to mind my grandfather's question, when I told him I was going climbing: "What do you do when you get to the top, just come down?" He doesn't get that the going up is what it's all about.
Thoughts? (Notice this is not in the Spray forum, eh.)
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#484919 - 08/09/05 10:46 AM
Re: the "uselessness" of climbing?
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journeyman
Registered: 07/06/05
Posts: 54
TRs: 1
Photos: 0
Loc: Sammamishire, Middle Earth
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I think doing things that are "hard" and challenging prepares you for life's challenges. Everyone will have to cope with life-altering experiences and having a foundation of strong will and sacrifice may prepare you for those days. I also don't think life is worth living if you don't enter risky situations. A comfortable life is useless. No one ever wrote a story about a person who lived a comfortable life and never dealt with anything. Someone who risked everything to achieve a dream..and maybe suffered some failures along the way...now that's a story. 
_________________________
Climbing Rainier Aug 18-20 with RMI.
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#484923 - 08/09/05 11:04 AM
Re: the "uselessness" of climbing?
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spray'prentice
Registered: 05/04/04
Posts: 2600
TRs: 4
Photos: 40
Loc: Wandering in the Rain
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Thread drift... But the book "Ascent" (biography of Willi Unsoeld) was fantastic!
And yes climbing is pointless. So is jet skiing, pet ownership (dog, nodders, gimps etc), recreational sex, taking a shower every day, wearing ties to work, posting on cc.com, all thing on TV and the radio, the chimperor........ So it's not really any more pointless than most other things in life besides having kids, and providing food and shelter for them. Were just lucky that we have to spend less time on the necessities.
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#484924 - 08/09/05 11:05 AM
Re: the "uselessness" of climbing?
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Pooh-Bah
Registered: 05/03/05
Posts: 2298
TRs: 0
Photos: 8
Loc: the red X, d'oh!
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Quote:
Climbing is an elitist activity reserved for those lucky few on the planet who have extra time and energy on their hands and have to burn it off. Most people in the world have a hard enough time surviving day to day. The disparity is remarkable.
But that's true of many, many things in Western society. Just about everything we do or buy is fluff compared to the struggle to survive that millions face every day.
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#484925 - 08/09/05 11:06 AM
Re: the "uselessness" of climbing?
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Pooh-Bah
Registered: 05/03/05
Posts: 2298
TRs: 0
Photos: 8
Loc: the red X, d'oh!
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Quote:
Thread drift... But the book "Ascent" (biography of Willi Unsoeld) was fantastic!
And yes climbing is pointless. So is jet skiing, pet ownership (dog, nodders, gimps etc), recreational sex, taking a shower every day, wearing ties to work, posting on cc.com, all thing on TV and the radio, the chimperor........ So it's not really any more pointless than most other things in life besides having kids, and providing food and shelter for them. Were just lucky that we have to spend less time on the necessities.
Yeah, what he said. 
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#484926 - 08/09/05 11:08 AM
Re: the "uselessness" of climbing?
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spray'prentice
Registered: 05/04/04
Posts: 2600
TRs: 4
Photos: 40
Loc: Wandering in the Rain
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Quote:
thousands of years?
sorry, any activity requiring driving a great distance, buying a ton of crap, and purposefully putting oneself in ugly situations just to get a thrill, that is an activity reserved for the elite, who have time, money, and extra energy on their hands. dirtbag climbers are hardly in a position where they are about to die of starvation, and most weekend warriors are just looking to find an outlet from a life that is too dull and too easy.
Wasn't it the Mayans who used to play some game with rubber balls and hoops, where they sacrificed the losers? Hell, chimps masterbate and throw feces. Pointlessness has always been around and always will be! 
_________________________
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... ccccrrraaaccckkk
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#484930 - 08/09/05 11:22 AM
Re: the "uselessness" of climbing?
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Pooh-Bah
Registered: 05/03/05
Posts: 2298
TRs: 0
Photos: 8
Loc: the red X, d'oh!
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Quote:
priceless for the self
Right. And therefore, it's *not* useless.
The book, by the way, ain't that great. It got poor ratings/reviews on amazon.com. I just got a free copy, so thought I'd read it.
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#484932 - 08/09/05 11:52 AM
Re: the "uselessness" of climbing?
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Pooh-Bah
Registered: 05/03/05
Posts: 2298
TRs: 0
Photos: 8
Loc: the red X, d'oh!
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#484935 - 08/09/05 12:38 PM
Re: the "uselessness" of climbing?
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Pooh-Bah
Registered: 05/03/05
Posts: 2298
TRs: 0
Photos: 8
Loc: the red X, d'oh!
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Quote:
the uselessness of this thread.
Aha, I was waiting for someone to say that. And to that, I have prepared this pithy response: 
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#484936 - 08/09/05 01:38 PM
Re: the "uselessness" of climbing?
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journeyman
Registered: 07/06/05
Posts: 54
TRs: 1
Photos: 0
Loc: Sammamishire, Middle Earth
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Quote:
thousands of years?
sorry, any activity requiring driving a great distance, buying a ton of crap, and purposefully putting oneself in ugly situations just to get a thrill, that is an activity reserved for the elite, who have time, money, and extra energy on their hands. dirtbag climbers are hardly in a position where they are about to die of starvation, and most weekend warriors are just looking to find an outlet from a life that is too dull and too easy.
Spending time posting on the Internet is pretty elitist. 
I was thinking about this over lunch. If I spend my time doing something that improves my life, doesn't that mean I've improved someone's life (even if that's my own) and by doing so I've improved life on Earth in general?
I'm hoping my climbing Rainier besides the obvious benefit to myself (hours and hours of life-enhancing training) that my kids will be inspired by it? So I've enhanced the lives of my whole family. And my dad who's in a rest home is totally into my venture too...his life is improved by my actions as well. He's completely bedridden and has never climbed a mountain..but he can live vicariously through me.
So frankly maybe I started this whole thing just as my own little selfish adventure but now I'm seeing how it's affecting all the lives around me.
I don't see it as useless at all....maybe it's the most useful thing I've done in my life.
Edited by Iapetus999 (08/09/05 01:44 PM)
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#484941 - 08/09/05 02:01 PM
Re: the "uselessness" of climbing?
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journeyman
Registered: 07/06/05
Posts: 54
TRs: 1
Photos: 0
Loc: Sammamishire, Middle Earth
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Now if you want to talk uselessness my activity for tonight probably qualifies: going to see the useless Mariners try to actually win a game. I have no moral justification for going except that I already bought the tickets.  Then again there is those $8 beers. 
_________________________
Climbing Rainier Aug 18-20 with RMI.
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