Why?

[Dru]

and for the of course!

[Sphinx]

Cause it's a noble way to kill yourself. Listen up, j_b.

[b-rock]

'Cause it scares the living shit out of me

[Terminal_Gravity]

Nice post, Dru.

 

I think that whether or not you are a climber is a personal decision/feel, not some group definition. Muffy is clearly " a climber".

 

My first mountaineering experience was in utero.

[iain]

Mer said:

Ah excellent, the Why Climb question. Because it makes everything else recede for a while. Because when you're climbing you're not fretting about your career, love-life,

mortgage, car repairs, or the zillion other fretful things that might occupy your head. Life is reduced to the tiny piece of metal that you have to put into the tiny crack or getting your foot up and onto that incut. Because it's blissfully simple to have your mind concentrated one thing.

 

Also interesting places, people, and good beer afterward, but mostly it's about paying very close attention to one thing.

 

beautiful!

[minx]

Dru said:

when i was a little kid my dad would take us hiking and also scramble-bouldering on the beach

 

i would read the hiking guidebooks and look at maps and see all the cool places to go

 

then my brother and i started peak bagging and bushwacking when he turned 16 and got a car

 

we scrambled more and more difficult things. spent many hours reading the bruce fairley guide and checking out way more cool things to climb

 

when i went to university i learned how to belay & place pro and got hooked on technical climbing & it all went downhill from there

 

i definitely like almost all types of climbing and exploring outdoors.

 

the only parts I don't really like are

1) gym climbing is a workout but there is no exploration so it is hard to motivate

2) i don't like super early alpine starts but I do like sunrises and not getting hit by rockfall so they are a necessary evil

3) i dont like bushwacking in the rain

4) i don't like winter suffering but you have to suffer to climb in the winter

5) i dont like falling so tend not to try to push myself too much: it took me 4 years from when i started climbing to redpoint my first 10b and another 7 years after that to get the redpoint level up to 10d

6) i dont like face fulls of snow and broken legs so i dont like to ski much

7) i do not like slogging with a heavy pack on but sometimes thats what it takes to bag a peak

8) i do not like aid belaying!

 

climbing is fun i tend to call everything from bagging a peak, to bouldering "climbing"

 

 

pretty much ditto for all of that.

 

my dad didn't have a boy to drag on his outdoor adventures with him and mom hated it so it was up to me.

 

for most of my life i was involved in another sport competitively. eventually i realized how stupid and expensive this was and came back to climbing on a more regular basis

[ChrisT]

It's starting to sound more like a religion than a sport around here

[Dru]

Mer said:

Ah excellent, the Why Climb question. Because it makes everything else recede for a while. Because when you're climbing you're not fretting about your career, love-life,

mortgage, car repairs, or the zillion other fretful things that might occupy your head. Life is reduced to the tiny piece of metal that you have to put into the tiny crack or getting your foot up and onto that incut. Because it's blissfully simple to have your mind concentrated one thing.

 

Also interesting places, people, and good beer afterward, but mostly it's about paying very close attention to one thing.

 

and cause the choices are simple. succeed or fail. go up or fall down. if you are soloing you only have the 1 choice anyways: live or die. even simpler. i always found soloing to be a very life affirming activity.

[Dru]

ChrisT said:

It's starting to sound more like a religion than a sport around here

 

except you have to go to "church service" Saturday AND Sunday

[b-rock]

Dru said:

ChrisT said:

It's starting to sound more like a religion than a sport around here

 

 

 

except you have to go to "church service" Saturday AND Sunday

 

Ahhhhhmen !

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

"Why did you start climbing? What made you want to try it? "

 

DFA had some friends who got into climbing through a couple other friends, and informed the Doctor that he oughta give it a shot. For some reason, after going climbing like five times, the friends in question decided to build a two-story climbing wall with a TR anchor on one of the guys' parents' house (on the brand new addition, no less. After helping build said contraption (with bolted-on railroad rocks for handholds) and flailing up it a couple times in Nike hiking boots and too-small borrowed rock shoes, the Doctor figured that climbing stuff was pretty fun. So he bought a BD Alpine Bod (cheapest harness available), some Sportiva high-tops (Enduros or something -- pink ones with a blue tongue), and a stuff sack for a chalk bag. That weekend, young DFA flailed mightily up Sky Patrol (5.9) at the Greensprings crag outside of Ashland, succeeding after way too many minutes and way too much tension on the TR. Another flail up an easier 5.8 lieback/wide crack thing, and the hook was set. Never regretted spending all of that money on gear for a second, fuckin' A.

 

"I have heard the "average climber" (90% of those who try it once) only climb for a few years before moving on to another sport. If you have been climbing for 3 yrs +, why did you stay with climbing?"

 

Climbing ain't nothing like anything else. For an uncoordinated loser klutz like DFA, who is lucky if he can successfully dribble a basketball or catch a baseball, to be able to actually enjoy a sport, and even do OK at it? That's fuckin' golden right there, absolutely golden. Getting up high off the ground, getting scared, working way too hard to figure out an improbable move or link an improbable route, futzing around with gear and getting pumped stupid and scared silly on 5.7 terrain, getting schooled by a new area, highball boulder problems, road trips and not bathing, tweaking your finger again, hitting the crag with a gang of stoked friends, wrapping your trashed digits around a cold beer and a hot burrito, finally sending your first 5.whateveryou'retryingtosend, meeting dope people at Smith and sharing beers at the Grasslands around a fire, watching someone climbing 5.14 and getting stoked, entering your first comp and failing miserably, taking what should be a shortish fall and finding out your bro gave you a ton of slack and jumped as high as he could when he caught you so you just sail ... fuck, the list could go on forever! It's all so damn cool. Shit.

 

"Did you start with another outdoor sport and switch to climbing, or did you start with climbing and stay with it?"

 

DFA started out hiking and backpacking and whitewater boating and skiing as a kid, and eventually it was just snowboarding and climbing, and finally just climbing. See reasons outlined above.

 

 

God bless craggin'!

[ChrisT]

Why did I start climbing? Because it's fun, builds strength and the guys are cute...

No existential crap from me!

[cj001f]

ChrisT said:

It's starting to sound more like a religion than a sport around here

It's starting to sound like a group of surfers, or ffishers, or skiiers......

[minx]

back in the day when i was riding a lot, the daughter of one of the other women at my barn (insert minx/livestock joke here) used to come to the barn with her mom on sat/sun.

 

i overheard this little girl telling the mother that a friend couldn't come play with the horses that sunday morning b/c she had to go sit inside at church. then she said "mom, methodist is a boring religion, i'm glad we're equestrian"

 

yep...some hobbies/sports can be a religious experience.

[Sphinx]

cj001f said:

ChrisT said:

It's starting to sound more like a religion than a sport around here

It's starting to sound like a group of surfers, or ffishers, or skiiers......

 

Telemarkers, even!

[sk]

minx said:

back in the day when i was riding a lot, the daughter of one of the other women at my barn (insert minx/livestock joke here) used to come to the barn with her mom on sat/sun.

 

i overheard this little girl telling the mother that a friend couldn't come play with the horses that sunday morning b/c she had to go sit inside at church. then she said "mom, methodist is a boring religion, i'm glad we're equestrian"

 

yep...some hobbies/sports can be a religious experience.

[ryland_moore]

I first climbed at camp in NC. Liked it but just thought of it as a cool thing to do. Then a climbing gym came to my home town and started going on a regular basis. That progressed into weekend trips up to NRG and learning how to lead sport. Still never did anything more than one pitch routes in the 5.9 and 5.10 range. I spent most all my time with soccer, every season, and into college. After my senior seson in college (coach would not let me climb during season, so I could only boulder on the 29 miles of sandstone cliffs that was my college campus) I climbed every chance I got. Having places like Foster Falls, T Wall, Sunset, and the campus with its miles and miles of endless cliffs in some cases a 5 minute walk from your dorm room, made it very easy to blow of classes. We even had a cold spell come in that winter and got our porffesor to skip his own class with us to climb ice!

 

Stayed up on the mountain that summer specifically to climb. Moved to JH and got into alpine. Ice that winter. S. America for big glacier slogs up the Andes.

Moved to PNW and spent time at Smiff, local areas around Eugene, and at least 5 weekends in the N. Cascades every summer. Just finished number 4 last weekend for this summer, supposed to attempt Triumph this weekend, but weather not looking good .

 

I started at that gym back home in 1992. Been climbing since, but did not play much in my life in 1998. I love it all.

 

I guess one can say you are dedicated where you leave every weekend to go climb, spend all weekend there, and drive back in the wee hours of the morning to start work. Work gives me the aqbility to get out and climb in other areas.

 

You could even do one of those Jeff Foxworthy, "If you_____, you might be a redneck." Things except for climbing.

 

For me if you drive 14 hours to do a climb that takes 5 hours, you might be a climber.

 

Or, If you are willing to drive from Eugene to Lilloet, BC jsut to climb some ice on the weekend (Friday-Sunday), you might be a climber.

 

Others? I could come up with a million of these! Let's put out a book!

[Fejas]

As a wee lad, I spent a lot of time alone in the WindRivers during the summer. Being enthralled with the Cheyenne, I often wandered through the old trail systems, and pondered what life would have been like back then. I hiked through narrow canyons and over giant boulders. As I grew to understand the area I travel through every year, I looked for a faster and more exciting way to get to the top of my favorite mountains. I traversed ledges, jammed my way up through crack systems, clawed through grassy chimneys, and as there are so many slabs in the rockies, I began to love running up moderate slabs.

 

Later in life I learned that climbing was a sport, and there was gear people used to protect them selves from injury. I quite climbing for a while to do another sport that was induced by the people I lived around, Rodeo. Time goes on and I began collage; I fell in love with another mans woman. Looking for a purpose and a means to an end, I began to climb again. Now because I did not care about life with out my love I still did not use gear. My journeys took me further into the heart of our mother, looking for my own zen. I was so focused and so determined to peer into the soul of the lion. The fears of a physical world did not exist. I never though once that I would ever die on one of my journeys.

 

Since then I married my friends woman, my love. I slowed down my climbing and bought gear. Now I have a huge mental complex about the climbing that I do, and find it hard to blow past the barriers that caring has brought forth. Climbs seem harder, and i have let myself slip into a unhealthy mud pit that hinders my focus, my zen, my ambition upon the rock.

 

I still climb because I know deep within my soul that what I had such a grasp on is still out there. Climbing reminds me there is a path I have traveled that still calls to me. Climbing puts me in check and awakens me when I fall asleep. I still climb because of my childhood days. Climbing is not a sport to me, but instead it is like my church, my temple, my dance.

 

I do many Outdoor activities, but non are what climbing is. Now because I do so many different things, I don't spend as much time climbing which is so suck. what I need to do is throw away all the other crap and just zen up...

 

jake

[iain]

If you trip over cans of white gas in your living room you might be a climber.

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

iain said:

If you trip over cans of white gas in your living room you might be a climber.

 

Or a gas-huffing pyro?

[decrepit]

... Because it's completely different from what I do in the rest of my life - interface with customers, network with associates, put a good spin on things, and mostly sit on my ass... Climbing (especially solo) is straightforward. You go up, you come down, you try not to make mistakes. If you do make mistakes, there are real consequences - not just a nonpromotion or reprimand. 'Been doing it for over twenty years, and in spite of my currently blown knee (one of those mistakes), I'm not going to stop!

[texplorer]

When I was a child on family vacations to colorado I was always being scolded for climbing the rocks, trees, and anything else. I guess even as a child I was a bit of an adrenaline junkie. I still remember being 4 yrs old and falling out of a mesquite tree and landing flat on my back.

 

Fast forward 20 years later- I moved to the NW to get better at climbing. I had always been a good endurance athlete so I thought I could be good at climbing big mountains. Figuring that you need to learn rope and pro techniques I began rock climbing. Since then I have discovered the many diverse realms of climbing and have spent the last several years trying to gain proficiency at each of them. I still like climbing snowy big mountains, bouldering, sport climbing, ice climbing, and aid, but I now am in a lurid affair with trad climbing clean crack systems.

 

What makes you a climber is hard to say. I do believe is that once you become a climber it is like being knighted. Once your are knighted you are always a knight even if you seldom go into battle or ever fight again. Will Fred B. cease to be a climber when he can't get out of bed? I think not. Becoming a climber is something within that is probably different to alot of people. Now whether you are a bad ass or a "committed" climber is something else entirely with which to debate.

[sk]

texplorer said:

When I was a child on family vacations to colorado I was always being scolded for climbing the rocks, trees, and anything else. I guess even as a child I was a bit of an adrenaline junkie. I still remember being 4 yrs old and falling out of a mesquite tree and landing flat on my back.

 

Fast forward 20 years later- I moved to the NW to get better at climbing. I had always been a good endurance athlete so I thought I could be good at climbing big mountains. Figuring that you need to learn rope and pro techniques I began rock climbing. Since then I have discovered the many diverse realms of climbing and have spent the last several years trying to gain proficiency at each of them. I still like climbing snowy big mountains, bouldering, sport climbing, ice climbing, and aid, but I now am in a lurid affair with trad climbing clean crack systems.

 

What makes you a climber is hard to say. I do believe is that once you become a climber it is like being knighted. Once your are knighted you are always a knight even if you seldom go into battle or ever fight again. Will Fred B. cease to be a climber when he can't get out of bed? I think not. Becoming a climber is something within that is probably different to alot of people. Now whether you are a bad ass or a "committed" climber is something else entirely with which to debate.

TEX is a bad ass I am NOT!

[texplorer]

Tex is not a bad ass since he hasn't been climbing in weeks now. Tex is very weak, broke, and is in a 3 step program.

 

Step 1 -finish school in 2 weeks

Step 2 -spend remainder of student loans on trip to Yos

Step 3 -get a jobby-job in P-town

Step 4 -give DFA the finger whilst taking the big one on upper heinous

 

Ok, step 4 is just a bonus

[Cairns]

Dru said:

 

Why did you start climbing?

 

What made you want to try it?

 

why did you stay with climbing?

 

did you start with climbing and stay with it?

 

I signed up for a school trip.

 

I didn't know what rock-climbing was, I just wanted to do something.

 

It was fun and put drugs in my veins.

 

I started with climbing: cribs, sofas, bookcases, trees, dirt embankments channeled from runoff and baked in the Oklahoma sun to a semi-rock consistency

 

 

Back in the late 60s I don't remember there being a discussion about what/who is a climber. I think that question comes from a colors, a Jet is a Jet, I'm not like everybody else perspective. Given the mystical and maniacal apologies for climbing seen above and elsewhere, you could say the real question is, "Why doesn't everyone climb?" Sort of like what the Northern Snaffle asked the zoologist. This question shows signs of nearing resolution year by year. See if you can track down a Life Magazine article called "The Rock People". I think it came out in '72. See what John Stannard said when they asked him why he climbed.